Amazon’s AI Shopping Overhaul

Remember Bard? It was the original name of Google’s AI chatbot, but the Gemini brand long ago replaced it. Just as you’ve likely forgotten that history, you’re not likely to remember Rufus in 12 months’ time, either. Rufus, the name of Amazon’s AI-powered shopping chatbot, got tossed on Wednesday and replaced with Amazon’s well-established Alexa virtual assistant brand name. 

I could make lots of jokes about what a terrible name Rufus was (although it was my grandfather’s first name, so I won’t do that). Let’s just agree that Amazon made the right call to adopt the name of a chatbot its customers already know. The name change is part of a broader overhaul of its shopping service to offer a bunch more AI-powered features that are likely to help Amazon fend off competition from generalist chatbots. (See our coverage of Amazon’s AI shopping evolution here and here.)