Amazon’s Rufus AI shopping assistant now allows some shoppers to check price history
If Amazon’s test of sharing price history through Rufus expands and survives, it could be an important reason for users to try the chatbot. Trishul Chilimbi, Amazon vice president overseeing research, wrote last week that his team trained Rufus on all the products, reviews, and Q&A content on the company’s website as well as some public information elsewhere on the web. In other words, Rufus provides easier access to information that users can select for themselves.
But hard-to-detect or hidden data, such as price changes, are harder to come by. In the case of the LifeStraw filter, popular price trackers CamelCamelCamel and Glass didn’t have any data when WIRED tested them. Another service, Keepathere is data from 2017 that shows a record low price of $8 in 2022.
Keepa and Glass executives told WIRED they are not concerned about competition from Rufus. They say their data is more comprehensive and supports a variety of tools, including price alerts. “Amazon’s moves to provide historical price data directly to users is good for all of us as consumers,” said Amor Avhad, founder of Glass It. want to make informed purchasing decisions.
Amazon has been slammed for its lack of transparency in some areas of its business. In several ongoing lawsuits, the US Federal Trade Commission has separately accused Amazon of cheat And anti-competitive practices that have left shoppers and sellers in the dark about subscription renewals and sales algorithms. But when it comes to product prices, Amazon has in some ways been upfront with shoppers.
Users who leave an item marinating in their cart for a while will be notified by Amazon if the item’s price has changed in either direction by even a penny since they first added it. If Amazon feels an item’s price is not competitive compared to other stores, Amazon may hide the Buy button and require users to click through additional screens to complete the purchase.
How access to price history might affect sellers caught in the middle. Tristan Månsson-Perrone of Radius Outfitters, an Amazon seller, has tool roll is one of the standout deals this week, saying it doesn’t adjust prices regularly. So customers may not glean much information from querying Rufus, he said.
Overall, Amazon has emphasized that it wants Rufus—named after A corgi adorns the company’s first office—is a trustworthy companion. Ask it to summarize the reviews and highlight the pros and cons. It suggests products that are not from Amazon and are not overly commercial.
But WIRED couldn’t ask Rufus for help with so-called ethical shopping queries, including which brands are supporting specific parties in war or elections. Uncertainty remains about whether tools like Rufus will reduce revenues for the professional review industry, including WIRED. Those limitations and concerns were rethought as Rufus felt like an unpopular imitator. With exclusive price data, it can start to become a shopper’s best friend.
