Amazon Puts Alexa Inside the Shopping Search Bar in AI Push (1)

Artificial intelligence algorithms are coming to some of the most valuable real estate in retail: the Amazon.com Inc. search bar.

Queries typed into Amazon’s website and mobile app will soon reply, depending on the context, with product comparisons or suggestions generated by AI large language models, the online retailer said Wednesday.

The new tool – called Alexa for Shopping – supplants Rufus, the shopping assistant bot that summarized product reviews and suggested purchases. To invoke Rufus, users had to click a blue and orange icon. The new search experience will appear by default, beginning this week for users ...