Amazon’s Shopping Chatbot Rufus to Feature Ads
Amazon’s recently launched chatbot Rufus, which is focused on shopping, is set to introduce ads soon. This information was revealed in a changelog published by Amazon this week, indicating that sponsored ads will soon start appearing for Rufus users in the U.S. These ads will be displayed based on Amazon search and conversational context. In some cases, Rufus may even generate text to complement existing ad copy.

Enhancing Customer Experience through Sponsored Ads
A spokesperson mentioned, “We continue to make enhancements to the Rufus experience, including improving brand and product discovery by introducing relevant sponsored ads that help customers discover selections related to their conversation with Rufus.” This move to include ads in Rufus follows Microsoft’s similar experiments with inserting ads into Copilot, the chatbot on Bing and other Microsoft platforms like Windows.
Given the significant costs associated with AI technology, it is not surprising that companies are exploring different methods, such as sponsored ads, to generate a return on investment or at least break even.
