Amazon to Incorporate Generative Artificial Intelligence into Its Shopping Experience

Amazon has introduced a range of new generative artificial intelligence tools aimed at enhancing the retail experience between the platform, customers, and sellers. A more notable feature announced during Amazon's Accelerate event on Thursday will utilize customer preferences, search behaviors, browsing history, and purchase records to deliver personalized product recommendations on Amazon's homepage.

Unlike the previous "More Like This" feature that recommended similar or specific products, the new recommendations will offer broader categories based on customers' shopping habits, such as products tailored to seasonal events or sporting activities. The company stated that it is leveraging large language models to suggest products with specific functionalities, though it remains unclear how this differs from the current user experience.

The feature will also curate more relevant product descriptions based on user interests. For example, for customers who frequently search for gluten-free products, terms like "gluten-free" will be more prominently featured in the related product descriptions.

Some of the new tools released for third-party sellers on the platform include a free video generator tool that utilizes product images and features to create AI-generated clips. The company mentioned that developing this tool aims to make video marketing more convenient and cost-effective, citing a study by animation video company Wyzowl, which found that 89% of consumers want to see more videos from brands.

Additionally, Amazon has added a new real-time image feature to its image generator launched last year, allowing users to partially animate static images, such as adding steam to a cup or making plants sway in the breeze. Amazon stated that the real-time image and new video generator features are now available in Beta to select U.S. advertisers for fine-tuning before a broader release.

Meanwhile, the chatbot "Project Amelia," aimed at improving the business performance of third-party Amazon retailers, has also been released in Beta. For example, when sellers inquire about their business performance, the chatbot responds with summaries of sales data, website traffic, and annual performance comparisons. Amazon mentioned that the current Beta version is limited to a small number of U.S. retailers but will expand to more American sellers in the coming weeks and roll out to other countries later this year.

For Amazon, this represents a significant batch of generative AI updates, as the company has long lagged behind industry giants like Meta and Google in this area. According to Reuters, after encountering difficulties with its own AWS models in generating words and responding to user prompts, Amazon will utilize Anthropic's Claude AI to drive upcoming improvements to Alexa.