Amazon just unveiled its most personal AI shopping assistant yet. The new 'Help Me Decide' feature mines your entire shopping history - searches, browsing patterns, and past purchases - to not just recommend products, but explain exactly why each item fits your needs. It's the latest salvo in the escalating AI shopping wars as tech giants battle for your wallet.
Amazon isn't just recommending products anymore - it's becoming your personal shopping therapist. The company's new Help Me Decide feature, rolling out today across the US, represents the most sophisticated AI shopping assistant yet built into a major e-commerce platform.
The tool works by analyzing your complete Amazon footprint. If you've been browsing camping gear - sleeping bags for four people, camping stoves, and recently bought hiking boots - Help Me Decide will suggest a four-person, all-season tent and explain why it matches your camping plans. The AI doesn't just push products; it builds a case for why you need them.
"Help Me Decide saves you time by using AI to provide product recommendations tailored to your needs after you've been browsing several similar items, giving you confidence in your purchase decision," Daniel Lloyd, vice president of personalization at Amazon, said in a statement.
The feature appears after users browse multiple similar listings, strategically positioned under the "Keep shopping for" section on Amazon's homepage. But the real innovation lies in its technical stack: Amazon is deploying large language models alongside AWS's generative AI services including Bedrock, OpenSearch, and SageMaker to create what amounts to a shopping psychology engine.
This represents Amazon's sixth major AI shopping launch in just 18 months. The company introduced Rufus, its conversational shopping assistant, in early 2024, followed by AI-powered shopping guides for over 100 categories last October. This year brought audio product summaries and the camera-based Lens Live feature that identifies real-world objects and suggests Amazon alternatives.
The rapid-fire launches signal Amazon's urgency in the AI shopping race. has been integrating shopping capabilities into its search AI, while recently added shopping features to ChatGPT. launched its own AI shopping assistant for Pro users, creating a three-way battle for AI-powered commerce supremacy.
