Amazon projects its AI shopping assistant, Rufus, to contribute over $700 million in operating profits this year through increased customer spending on its platform. This is based on an internal metric called 'downstream impact' (DSI), which measures a product's ability to drive additional sales.
While Rufus lost an estimated $285 million in 2024, Amazon expects this to rise to $1.2 billion in DSI profit contributions by 2027. This projection, which includes ad revenue, supports Amazon's aggressive expansion of Rufus into international markets and improvements to its underlying AI model.
Amazon plans to significantly expand Rufus' reach to include more products and international markets, aiming to make it more widely accessible and improve its performance through model enhancements.
Despite the positive projections, Rufus faces challenges including mixed user reviews and questions regarding the reliability of the DSI metric.
User reviews indicate that Rufus sometimes provides inaccurate answers, raising concerns about its functionality. Additionally, the DSI metric itself is subject to debate and potential inaccuracies within Amazon.
While Amazon's retail CEO remains a strong supporter of Rufus and its potential for personalized shopping experiences, these challenges highlight the ongoing uncertainties and developmental hurdles associated with this AI tool.