Amazon kills Rufus chatbot, replaces it with Alexa for Shopping in AI strategy pivot

Just two years after unveiling Rufus as its flagship AI shopping assistant, Amazon has quietly pulled the plug on it, folding its features into a new product called Alexa for Shopping. The new tool embeds a chat window directly into Amazon's search results, lets users compare products, and can schedule purchases when prices drop — all while Amazon insists it's not designed to "narrow" results (just to surface more ads).

The move comes as rivals like OpenAI and Google scramble to figure out AI shopping themselves — OpenAI already killed its own Instant Checkout feature earlier this year. Amazon exec Daniel Rausch was characteristically modest about the competition: "Shopping is not something you do as a side quest." Third-party sellers who pay dearly for search placement may feel differently about having an AI chatbot suddenly sharing their prime real estate.