Amazon Rufus launched in India: how to use it | Tech Tips

Amazon has launched its AI shopping assistant christened Rufus in India. The Amazon AI assistant is said to be capable of answering all your shopping-related queries in the Amazon app. Rufus debuted at the beginning of this year and is finally available in beta to select Indian users. We have explained below how you can access Amazon Rufus and its various uses. 

What is Amazon Rufus

Amazon Rufus is a generative AI-based conversational shopping assistant that can ease your shopping experience by answering questions about a product or shopping needs. It is trained on “Amazon’s product catalogue and information from across the web”. However, like every other AI app, Rufus “may not always get things right.”

Rufus is named after a pet dog, who belonged to Amazon’s former editor-in-chief and principal engineer.

Here’s where you find the Amazon Rufus assistant:

How to get Amazon Rufus

Amazon Rufus is currently available in beta to a subset of Amazon India customers. It will be gradually rolling out to all users in the country. Someday, it will launch on the desktop website (Amazon.in) too.

Here’s what you have to do to access it right now:

Step 1: Update the Amazon app from Google Play to the latest version.

Step 2: Open the Amazon app and tap the Rufus icon (chat bubbles with sparkle) on the bottom navigation bar (right side). 

Step 3: The Rufus chat dialog box will open.

Step 4: Tap the box that says, “Ask Rufus a question“. Type your query and send it. Rufus will respond in some time.

You can expand the chat dialogue box to see answers to your queries, tap on suggested questions, and ask follow-up questions too.

Amazon Rufus features, uses

According to Amazon, Rufus can help you with the following use cases:

• Ask about the factors to look for while buying a product. Prompt examples can be “What to consider when buying headphones?” or “Things to consider when choosing the right moisturiser”.
• Ask about products using prompts like “What do customers say about xyz product?” “Is this jacket machine washable?”, or “Is this cordless drill easy to hold?”

• Find products based on activity, event, purpose, and other specific use cases by entering prompts like “Gifting ideas for my wife’s birthday,” “What do I need for my first hike” or “What do I need to make dal makhani?”
• Compare two products by asking, “Which is better 4K OLED TV or 4K LED TV?”
• Get product recommendations by asking Rufus, “What are good gifts for Valentine’s Day?” “Suggest top gaming laptops” or “best dinosaur toys for a 5-year-old.”