If it gets smarter, Rufus could make online shopping even easier
November 7, 2024Amazon's artificialintelligence shopping assistant isn't doing a good job.
Rufus, an AI chatbot which Amazon has offeredsince July, regularly makes errors, doesn't recommend the products asked forand sometimes doesn't suggestproducts at all, according to tests ofthe AI shopping asssistant.
"All AI systems suffer from hallucinations, and they are glaringly obvious in Rufus," saidJuozas Kaziuknas, founder of e-commerce data providerMarketplace Pulse.
For example, Kaziuknas said Rufus doesn't give the cheapest options when asked or will list items that aren't TVs when asked for recommended TVs for gaming.
"If asked for the best marathon running shoes, it will respond with options no runner or coach would recommend," Kaziuknas said. "And if asked for winter gloves, it will respond with a list seemingly picked at random."
In March, The Washington Post also tested Rufus, finding that it made poor recommendations for cycling gloves and didn't recommend products at all when asked for help with composting at home, among other issues.
"In my testing over the past several days, the chatbot wasnt a disaster," the newspaper's Shira Ovide wrote. "But I also found it mostly useless."
Sellers unhappy
Amazon sellers are also complaining about Rufus.
"Rufus has check marked bitterness as a positive coffee attribute. Bitterness is one of the worst attributes which is hurting our sales. We have a 4.4 rating and bitterness has hardly ever been a complaint and not reflective in our reviews. This is totally unacceptable!," one seller said on Amazon's forums.
Another seller said: "I can't believe Amazon is doing this to sellers. The rufus AI is giving disparaging false info about our [product] to shoppers, while it talks glowingly about our competitors products. Thanks amazon."
Still, AI assistants like Rufus could make shopping much more convenient very soonif they get smarter.
"The promise of AI is analyzing the more than 40,000 cycling gloves in Amazons catalog to save shoppers from having to click around, watch videos, and read reviews," Marketplace Pulse's Kaziuknas said. "Once Amazon adds a buy button to the AI response, buying a product will take just one click."