Amazon has introduced a new generative AI shopping feature called “Join the Chat,” allowing customers to ask real-time questions while listening to AI-generated audio product summaries.
The feature expands on Amazon’s existing “Hear the Highlights” tool, which provides short-form audio overviews on millions of product pages using AI-generated scripts.
With Join the Chat, shoppers can interrupt the audio summaries through text or voice prompts and ask questions about products. Amazon said the AI hosts respond using information pulled from product listings, customer reviews and other contextual data before continuing the audio summary.
Rajiv Mehta, vice president of conversational shopping at Amazon, said the feature is designed to make the experience more interactive and personalised.
“The AI hosts don’t offer a generic answer — they consider what’s already been covered and respond with new, relevant information,” Mehta said in the company announcement.
Amazon said the tool is capable of adapting conversations dynamically based on shopper questions, allowing users to steer the direction of the summary rather than passively listening.
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The rollout is the latest example of Amazon embedding generative AI deeper into the shopping experience as it looks to simplify product discovery and reduce friction for consumers navigating large product catalogues.
The company has steadily expanded its use of AI across retail over the past two years.
In 2023, Amazon launched AI-generated review summaries to condense verified customer feedback into digestible highlights. It also introduced its “Interests” feature, which lets shoppers use conversational prompts to find products tied to hobbies and preferences.
Amazon has also deployed AI tools for merchants, including generative systems that automatically create product titles, bullet points and descriptions for sellers.
The broader retail industry has increasingly leaned into AI-powered shopping assistants as retailers compete to improve personalisation and product discovery.
Rival eBay previously launched its own AI-assisted listing tool capable of generating product listings from uploaded images.
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