{"id":1680,"date":"2024-03-08T17:32:08","date_gmt":"2024-03-08T17:32:08","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/demo.goodlayers.com\/infinite\/?p=1680"},"modified":"2024-03-08T17:32:09","modified_gmt":"2024-03-08T17:32:09","slug":"possession-of-my-entire-soul","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.goldenpere.com.ng\/?p=1680","title":{"rendered":"Amazon\u2019s generative AI bot Rufus makes online shopping easier (for the most part)"},"content":{"rendered":"

Amazon (AMZN<\/a>) is bringing generative AI to its shopping app via its new Rufus chatbot. I\u2019ve used a good deal of generative AI apps so far, and they\u2019ve largely focused on searching the web, helping write emails, and making putting together PowerPoints a bit less, well, hellish.<\/p>\n

Rufus, however, is designed to make shopping quicker and easier by providing you with answers to questions about product categories and individual items. The chatbot, which is trained on Amazon\u2019s product catalog and web data, appears at the bottom of the Amazon shopping app as a tab that you swipe up to access. It doesn\u2019t replace the regular search bar at the top of the screen. Rather, it serves as a means of expanding on it.<\/p>\n

Of course, if Rufus takes off among consumers, it will be a major win for Amazon. That\u2019s because the chatbot could get users to spend more time in Amazon\u2019s shopping app and less time looking up information about products on Google (GOOG<\/a>,\u00a0GOOGL<\/a>) which could lead them to buy goods through competing online stores.<\/p>\n

I got an early look at a beta version of Rufus to see how well it works. And while it isn\u2019t perfect, it did make shopping for things like video games, cat food, and weightlifting equipment easier.<\/p>\n

I needed windshield wipers for my car, so I typed wipers into the search bar at the top of the screen. Rufus then appeared in a small box at the bottom of the screen with suggested follow-up questions such as \u201cWhat are the different types of windshield wipers available?\u201d, \u201cHow do I choose the right windshield wiper size for my vehicle?\u201d, and \u201cWhat are the features to look for when buying windshield wipers?\u201d<\/p>\n

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Rufus can provide a rundown of different types of products such as windshield wipers. (Daniel Howley)\u00a0(Howley)<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Tap a suggestion, and you\u2019ll get the appropriate answer. For instance, tapping \u201cWhat are the features to look for when buying windshield wipers?\u201d gave me a list of items to consider, including blade type, blade size, wiper rubber quality, and adapter type. Riveting stuff, I know. But if you\u2019re tired of hearing your wipers screech like nails on a chalkboard every time it rains, these are the kinds of things you want to know about.<\/p>\n

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I also needed \u2014 well, wanted \u2014 to shop for the game \u201cFinal Fantasy VII Remake.\u201d The problem is there are a few versions of this game on the market, and deciding which one to buy can be a pain. So I decided to check with Rufus to see if it could distinguish between the versions of the game, and, to my surprise, it did just that.<\/p>\n

Not only did Rufus manage to tell the difference between the PlayStation 5 and PlayStation 4 versions of the game, it also knew the differences between the base version of the game and an expanded version.<\/p>\n

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Rufus provided an in-depth explanation of the differences between the two versions of the game “Final Fantasy VII Remake.” (Daniel Howley)\u00a0(Howley)<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

But here\u2019s where Rufus trips up. One of the follow-up questions it offered was \u201cWhat are the best weapons and armor to get in \u2018Final Fantasy 7 Remake?’\u201d The chatbot gave me a basic rundown of how to pick weapons and armor in the game, choose items that hit an enemy\u2019s weaknesses, etc., but it then brought up buying options for a \u201cFinal Fantasy VII\u201d character action figure and a seemingly unrelated wig.<\/p>\n

The bot rebounded when I started searching for weight plates for my home gym, providing the pros and cons of metal versus rubber plates, explaining that while metal plates last longer, rubber plates will do less damage to my floor. That kind of insight can be incredibly useful for someone who\u2019s just getting into lifting and doesn\u2019t know which kind of plate to buy.<\/p>\n

But when I changed up the question to “What are differences between metal plates and rubber plates?” it became confused and gave me a search option for metal dining plates, but a description of metal weightlifting plates.<\/p>\n

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Rufus can get confused when asking questions. Here, it couldn’t distinguish between whether I was asking about metal weightlifting plates or metal dining plates. (Daniel Howley)\u00a0(Howley)<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

I also tried looking up some items I should buy for an upcoming trip to Ireland. When I asked Rufus \u201cWhat should I buy before leaving for vacation in Ireland?\u201d the bot offered an Ireland travel guide book, lightweight rain jacket, sweater, walking shoes, and a power adapter. Rufus provided an explanation for each suggestion, as well, saying that Ireland\u2019s climate can be rainy, and that even in the summer, evening temperatures can be rather cool.<\/p>\n

When I tapped on a suggested follow-up question asking about the top attractions and destinations in Ireland, Rufus gave me information about certain areas including the Cliffs of Moher and Giant\u2019s Causeway. The app then provided information about each locale, complete with books or movies for purchase related to the areas.<\/p>\n

Finally, I tried asking Rufus for the cheapest paper towels. But rather than a straight-up answer pointing me to the least expensive product, the bot gave me a list of popular paper towel brands and a short description of them. Not exactly what I was hoping for.<\/p>\n

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Amazon (AMZN) is bringing generative AI to its shopping app via its new Rufus chatbot. I\u2019ve used a good deal of generative AI apps so far, and they\u2019ve largely focused on searching the web, helping write emails, and making putting together PowerPoints a bit less, well, hellish.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":2519,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[8,13],"class_list":["post-1680","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-masonry","tag-industry","tag-oil"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.goldenpere.com.ng\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1680","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.goldenpere.com.ng\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.goldenpere.com.ng\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.goldenpere.com.ng\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.goldenpere.com.ng\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=1680"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/www.goldenpere.com.ng\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1680\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":4002,"href":"https:\/\/www.goldenpere.com.ng\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1680\/revisions\/4002"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.goldenpere.com.ng\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/2519"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.goldenpere.com.ng\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=1680"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.goldenpere.com.ng\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=1680"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.goldenpere.com.ng\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=1680"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}