Amazon to enhance its app search with AI like ChatGPT

Amazon is the latest tech giant to play around with generative AI as chatbots, including ChatGPT, Google's Bard and Microsoft Bing Chat, become more popular by the day. As spotted by Bloomberg, the company has posted multiple job openings for developers to enhance Amazon's shopping app search with generative AI features. One of the posts notes that the company is "reimagining Amazon Search with an interactive conversational experience." But, of course, Amazon already offers a capable virtual assistant, Alexa, though the retail company is subject to criticism over privacy concerns.

The exact features of Amazon's shopping app remain unclear, but the job postings highlight some bold claims. Says one: "We're looking for the best and brightest across Amazon to help us realise and deliver this vision to our customers right away. This will be a once-in-a-generation transformation for Search." Another listing highlights that the candidate would be part of "a new AI-first initiative to re-architect and reinvent the way we do search through the use of extremely large-scale next-generation deep learning techniques."

Amazon spokesperson Keri Bertolino told Bloomberg that the company is experimenting with generative artificial intelligence tools without sharing details about the new job openings. However, in an email, Bertolino adds: "We are significantly investing in generative AI across all of our businesses." The latest job offers can irritate many former Amazons who were recently fired out of the blue. The company blamed the layoffs on its past decisions to overhire and poor macroeconomics. Amazon had announced plans to lay off about 27,000 employees during the year.

Whenever Amazon decides to release an update, we can expect Search to offer some conversation entries. In addition, the Amazon app and website now provide an option to search for products with prices. For example, users can type "smartphones under Rs 20,000", and Amazon offers results based on the inputs. Moreover, users can further narrow the result with filters. With features similar to ChatGPT, users can understand the jargon when purchasing a product. In addition, the search can also provide a more detailed and identifiable list.