Amazon to Add Generative AI to Marketplace Search

Amazon is reportedly looking to add generative artificial intelligence (AI) to its search function.

There have been suggestions of that goal in the company’s job postings for engineers over the last month, Bloomberg reported Monday (May 15).

The postings mentioned “reimagining Amazon Search with an interactive conversational experience” and “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,” according to the report.

Reached for comment by PYMNTS, an Amazon spokesperson said via email: “We are significantly investing in generative AI across all of our businesses.”

The Bloomberg report said that in other applications of generative AI, Amazon Web Services has announced services that rely on the technology, Amazon plans to enhance its Alexa voice assistant with the technology and it is developing AI tools to create photos and videos for ads.

Amazon’s current search bar-based searches have been criticized recently for the amount of sponsored content they include, according to the report.

This news comes about a week after it was reported that Google is turning to AI to revamp its search engine.

The company is incorporating conversations with AI into how it presents search results in order to make search more “visual, snackable, personal and human,” emphasizing serving younger users, The Wall Street Journal (WSJ) reported May 6.

Google wants to emphasize responding to search queries that traditional web results can’t answer, and that could mean prompting users to ask follow-up questions or browsing through things like TikTok videos in response to their questions, the WSJ reported, citing internal documents from the tech giant.

Generative AI is having transformational impacts on Microsoft, too, and that company is infusing its entire product suite with integrations and enhancements driven by the capabilities of AI technology.

During the company’s quarterly earnings call in April, Microsoft Chairman and CEO Satya Nadella said of the state of web search: “Two months since the launch of new Bing and Edge, we are really encouraged by user feedback and usage patterns.” 

Nadella added, “When people use these new AI features, their engagement with Bing and Edge goes up.”