More AI To Help You Shop? Amazon Launches Audio Product Summaries For US Users

Amazon (AMZN) is rolling out artificial intelligence-powered audio product summaries on its shopping site, its latest effort to embed AI across its services.

Amazon, a significant investor in Anthropic, the firm behind the Claude AI bot, said the feature will help Amazon customers save time and improve their shopping experience.

It joins Amazon’s existing AI tools, such as Rufus, an AI shopping assistant, and Interests, which continuously monitors and recommends new products aligned with a user’s interests.

AI product summaries can be accessed via “Hear the highlights” button in the Amazon app. Users will hear “AI-powered shopping experts” discussing key product features, customer reviews, and information from across the Internet.

“The feature makes product research fun and convenient — it’s like having helpful friends discuss potential purchases to make your shopping easier, even if you’re multitasking or on the go,” Amazon said in a blog post on Wednesday.

The summaries are currently available on limited products for select customers in the U.S. and will soon be expanded to more products and users.

The feature uses large language models (LLMs) to generate scripts, pulling from Amazon’s product catalog, customer reviews, and information from across the web and then translating the content into short-form audio clips, Amazon said.

Besides its shopping site, Amazon has, over the years, made significant investments in AI to augment its cloud computing platform, Amazon Web Services, and its streaming service Prime Video.

Amazon has invested at least $8 billion in Anthropic, with the bulk of that funding committed in the past year.

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