Does Amazon have plans to add ChatGPT-style search on its shopping app?

• A recent job posting indicated that the e-commerce giant is ‘reimagining Amazon Search with an interactive conversational experience.’
• One listing is seeking a senior software development engineer.
• Amazon has only admitted thus far that they are significantly investing in generative AI across all their businesses.

About a month ago, Amazon.com Inc. announced it was joining the generative AI race – not by launching its own ChatGPT-like chatbot, but by making two new AI language models available through its cloud platform, Amazon Web Services (AWS). Through that, customers will be able to build their bots. After all, the cloud juggernaut couldn’t just watch its two closest rivals, Microsoft and Google, develop their cutting-edge generative AI models without joining the race.

This week, besides its cloud arm, Amazon is signaling a more significant interest in the generative AI space, with possibilities that the company may bring a ChatGPT-style product search to its web store. The e-commerce giant’s ambitions appear in recent job postings reviewed by Bloomberg News. 

One listing seeking a senior software development engineer says the company is “reimagining Amazon Search with an interactive conversational experience” designed to help users find answers to questions, compare products and receive personalized suggestions. “We’re looking for the best and brightest across Amazon to help us realize and deliver this vision to our customers right away,” the company said in the listing.

The listing was posted on its jobs board last month. “This will be a once-in-a-generation transformation for Search,” Amazon iterated. Another job posting indicated that the position is “a new AI-first initiative to re-architect and reinvent the way we do search through the use of vast scale next-generation deep learning techniques.”

Conversational product search like ChatGPT has the potential to reshape a vital element of the core retail business of Amazon. In recent years, the search bar at the top of the app and homepage has become the default gateway for millions of shoppers seeking a specific product. 

For context, based on a survey by Jungle Scout, a software maker for sellers on Amazon, more than half of US shoppers say they start product searches on Amazon, a higher share than Google. Amazon spokesperson Keri Bertolino however, declined to comment on the job listings. “We are significantly investing in generative AI across all of our businesses,” she said in an email to Bloomberg.

Amazon Vs. Google Search: What’s the difference without a ChatGPT-like bot?

Amazon and Google search engines share fundamental similarities. Both rely on sophisticated algorithms and keywords to rank results and satisfy users. Both also display two types of results: paid and organic. The main difference between Amazon vs. Google search engines is user intent. Google users are in research and discovery mode, whereas Amazon users are in buying mode and typically know exactly what they’re searching for.

Additionally, Amazon and Google use different keywords to drive qualified traffic. Keywords on Amazon are more product-focused, highlighting benefits or special features. On the other hand, Google looks at long-tail keywords, loading speed, and backlinks when ranking a page.

Even Google, during its I/O conference last week, announced that it will apply generative AI to shopping searches as part of a series of new capabilities. According to a blog post, Google is now testing a new form of shopping search where users who type in the kind of item they are seeking to get a “snapshot of noteworthy products to consider and products that fit the bill.”

---

---

---