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Amazon’s new Rufus chatbot isn’t bad — but it isn’t great, either

Amazon's Rufus chatbot is available for select customers in the U.S. -- including some folks on the TechCrunch crew. So we tested it.

Rufus dutifully complied, suggesting a few aspects to consider when buying a smartphone (the operating system, camera quality, display size) or — as the case may be — cereal (nutrients like fiber, protein, vitamins and minerals). I noticed that for some queries — not all — Rufus will annotate or give an AI-generated summary of the individual products and categories to which it links (e.g. “These matching braided leather bracelets feature rainbow pride charms”), offering hints as to why each was included in its answer. Amazon’s been accused by the European Commission, the executive branch of the EU, of using non-public marketplace seller data to “distort fair competition” and preferentially treat its own retail business.

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