Amazon recently launched its new AI-powered chatbot, Rufus, in a bid to make shopping easier for its customers. The AI-powered assistant, launched in the US in February this year, was rolled out in India last month.
Rufus, which can be accessed from an icon in the bottom right corner of your Amazon Shopping app, can recommend products for your or give advices and updates on shopping. It can also compare products and suggest gift ideas.
You can expand the chatbox to check the answers to your questions besides clicking on suggested questions or asking follow-up questions.
So how is Rufus different from Alexa?
If you ask Rufus how it's different from Alexa, it has this to say: "...While Alexa is a general virtual assistant, I am specialised to be your helpful AI shopping expert for Amazon.in, providing a localised experience tailored for customers across India."
Rufus says it has specialised knowledge about Indian brands, products, customs and culture to provide more relevant recommendations by taking into account India festivals, regional cuisines and traditional attire. It can also recommend products by taking into account the weather, festivals and regional brands
Alexa, as we know, is the principle voice-activated virtual assistant of Amazon. It is integrated into the wider Amazon ecosystem consisting of Echo, Fire TV and other smart home devices. It can also be integrated into third-party devices like lights and music streaming. It can assist you with home automation, voice reminders, playing music and do other tasks.
Unlike Alexa, which is a voice assistant, the new entrant, Rufus, is a conversational AI chatbot. It does not require a device to carry out conversations and can be communicated through app or website. It mainly provides customer service for shopping.
Rufus provides responses in British English for Indian customers and uses Indian date formats, metric units, local terminology and punctuation. Its knowledge base focuses on products and services that are available on Amazon.