Amazon ditches Rufus chatbot, launches Alexa shopping agent in AI strategy pivot

An Amazon device is displayed at an Amazon Devices launch event in New York City on Feb. 26, 2025. Brendan McDermid | Reuters Amazon is axing its Rufus chatbot and making its Alexa assistant the centerpiece of its artificial intelligence shopping strategy. The company on Wednesday launched Alexa for Shopping, an e-commerce bot that can answer queries and take actions on behalf of users. Amazon said the tool brings together Rufus and Alexa+ , and taps users' shopping history and other data to be "the world's best, most personalized AI assistant for shopping." As part of the move, Amazon is adding Alexa to search results on its store, so if users browse for certain products, a chat window will appear with information and a few recommended items. A little over two years ago, Amazon unveiled Rufus as a key part of its website and app in an effort to take advantage of the generative AI boom, which was sweeping across the the tech sector and into other parts of the economy. Rufus was described at the time as an "expert shopping assistant," and Amazon continued to expand its capabilities, though it remains in beta. The stand-alone Rufus chatbot will be discontinued, but Amazon said it will use Rufus' recommendation features and shopping history for certain Alexa for Shopping queries. Users can summon Alexa for Shopping by clicking a cursive A icon on Amazon's website or app, or via Echo Show displays. …