Amazon’s new AI guides can help shoppers find what they need

Amazon has a new shopping tool that uses AI to help customers quickly find products based on the specific features they need. AI-powered “Shopping Guides” are now rolling out in the US on Amazon’s mobile website and apps for iOS and Android, presenting users with more tailored product information and recommendations when they’re browsing.

Amazon said in its announcement that AI guides are available for over 100 product types, including TVs, headphones, running shoes, skincare, and more. They are supposed to include “educational content” about these products, alongside customer insights to “help you make informed purchase decisions,” according to Amazon.

Selecting a shopping guide for headphones, for example, will display a selection of products that are recommended based on popularity, customer reviews, and price. Below these are selectable options for “factors to consider,” which can break products down into specific categories by things like brand, use case (sport, gaming, students), or connectivity type (wired, wireless, USB).

It’s essentially a more visual way to filter products compared to the exhaustive tick-box menus we’re familiar with. It should help users to better understand what features are available for products they know little about and what those features actually mean instead of just being faced with a wall of options. The UI takes up a lot more room on your screen, though, and it isn’t clear if users can disable the feature if it gets annoying.

The AI Shopping Guides will automatically appear for autocompleted suggestions in search “when appropriate,” according to Amazon, or can be explored directly here to see what guides are available. Clicking on the “Keep Shopping For” card on Amazon’s homepage will also surface AI Shopping Guides that reference recent shopping activity.