Amazon's Shopping App May Soon Seem A Bit More Intrusive Thanks To Generative AI

We're all familiar with just how overbearing ads can be. You might buy a one-off product as a birthday gift for a friend or a piece of office furniture, only for twice-weekly email newsletters and pop-ups for every single product in a company's catalog to pester you forever more.

This is the great blessing and curse of online shopping: We have 24/7 access to shop storefronts from the comfort of our own homes, and they can have almost the very same access to us in return. One of the biggest names in the business, the worldwide titan that is Amazon, knows this better than most. The advance of generative AI such as Bing Chat and ChatGPT represents great opportunities for many, and for the company, it seems that it's going to be used to make the Amazon app easier to navigate, more personalized and even more profitable.

Here's how generative AI appears to be being brought to the app, and what it may mean for the average shopper's experience.

A search of Amazon's app or website, many users will surely attest, is an efficient way to find all manner of products. Nevertheless, it seems that the process is set to be revised somewhat. In May 2023, Amazon provided significant hints to their intentions in this area in job listings, seeking senior software development engineers and similar roles. One of them stated that "a once in a generation transformation for Search" was underway, intended to be delivered to users ASAP, and that "an interactive conversational experience" was the endgame of this new approach, according to  Time.

"Conversational," of course, is the watchword of such AI projects. ChatGPT users astounded by the technology feel as though the chatbot can hold something of a conversation, and simple Amazon search bar queries like "Nintendo Switch OLED" or "fishing rod" are evolving into something more.

The interactive element suggests that the system will offer more input, allowing customers to "ask" questions, perhaps seek recommendations, all from within the app's main search functionality. It's not yet clear exactly when this change will occur or what it will entail, but it seems clear that a more efficient and helpful shopping experience would also be one in which the shopper is more likely to find the exact product for them, and would therefore ultimately be more lucrative.

With what appears to be its upcoming transition to more in-depth shopping experiences, Amazon is attempting to capture the zeitgeist, and it certainly isn't alone in doing so. Elsewhere in May 2023, Google's The Keyword blog discussed the various boons that generative AI brings to conventional search functionality. It allows users to ask more specific questions and, in turn, receive far more specific answers.

In the shopping arena specifically, Google's Shopping Graph means access to listings for an astronomical 35 billion different items. The generative AI link allows for comparisons between brand and products, explanations of the differences, and immediate access to questions relating to the item(s) in question. AI creates links to further relevant information and so on effortlessly (rather like the ChatGPT-equipped Merlin browser extension for Chrome). If a one-for-one replacement of the previous simple search bar, however, there'd be no getting away from generative AI while shopping.

If Amazon's upcoming shopping app change emulates this approach, it will be akin to not only having a vastly-stocked store in your pocket, but also infinitely knowledgeable store staff who know each and every follow-up query you may have and can provide quick and convenient shortcuts to answers. It will be interesting to see how the potential changes pan out when implemented, but evidently, Amazon shopping is going to be AI-enabled in the near future.