Amazon is rapidly rolling out generative AI across its shopping experience, and one of its flagship innovations is Rufus — a conversational assistant integrated directly into search.

At Karley, we’ve spent the past year experimenting with conversational AI at scale, so naturally we’re paying close attention to how a leader like Amazon is deploying it. Is Rufus a game-changer? Should other brands follow suit?

Here’s our take.

What Rufus Is: Conversational Search on Amazon

When a shopper types a long-form query into the Amazon app’s search bar — something like “What’s a good beginner camera for wildlife photography?” — Rufus appears to answer the question, recommend products, and guide the shopper through follow-up interactions.

It works much like ChatGPT, but embedded in Amazon’s search experience. The goal is to make discovery more conversational — and less reliant on filters, facets, or keyword-heavy searches.

The Upside: A Smarter Way to Shop

Rufus isn’t just a repackaged chatbot. It introduces new ways to discover and bundle products — particularly useful for complex or multi-item shopping missions. Here’s what we think works well:

✅ Better Product Bundling

Searching for everything you need to bake a cake? Rufus could (in theory) generate a recipe, then pull together all ingredients and utensils in one click. That’s high-value convenience.

✅ Seamlessly Integrated

Unlike typical chatbot overlays, Rufus is natively embedded into the search experience. This makes it feel like a natural extension of the interface — not a pop-up interruption.

✅ Useful for Complex Product Decisions

Rufus shines when customers need to evaluate nuanced or technical purchases — like comparing camera specs or skincare regimens. Its ability to surface contextual guidance helps build confidence to buy.

The Downside: Changing Search Behavior Is a Steep Hill

Despite the innovation, there’s a major challenge Rufus faces: getting shoppers to use it.

Amazon is effectively asking people to use the same search bar for two completely different intents:

1. Quick keyword search (what shoppers are used to)
2. Conversational queries (what Rufus is built for)

This dual-purpose design creates friction. Based on our own testing across e-commerce sites, fewer than 0.1% of shoppers ever enter a full-sentence query — even when encouraged to do so. Search behavior is deeply ingrained, and most people simply don’t treat e-commerce search bars like chat interfaces.

So Rufus will either:

• (A) Successfully retrain shoppers to expect more from search (possible, but unlikely in the short term), or
• (B) Amazon will pivot the experience into something more intuitive (we believe this is the more probable outcome)

What We’re Watching Closely: Rufus in Product Pages

Amazon is also testing a second Rufus deployment — this time embedded directly into product detail pages (PDPs).

This is much closer to what we’ve built at Karley.

Instead of relying on shoppers to change behavior, this version of Rufus predicts relevant product questions and surfaces them in context — exactly when shoppers are considering a purchase. No new behaviors required. No break in the shopping flow.

Why This Works:

• It aligns with natural decision-making moments
• It’s visible and available at the point of need
• It helps customers move forward with confidence

From our own data, we’ve seen 10x higher engagement in this kind of embedded experience compared to AI buried in the search bar.

Final Takeaway: The Right Place, The Right Time

Amazon’s Rufus is a bold and exciting step for AI in commerce. It pushes boundaries — and that matters. But the real innovation may not be in conversational search. It’s in contextual assistance.

AI doesn’t need to change how people shop. It needs to show up where they already are — and make the journey better.

At Karley, we believe the future of shopping isn’t just chatbots or clever search engines — it’s generative, predictive, and personalized help, woven into the product page itself.

Retailers and brands should take note. The AI shopping experience of the future is already here — and shoppers will soon expect it everywhere.