Summary
Amazon Prime Day is July 16-17th!
Who Is Rufus?
Released in February, Amazon’s new AI shopping assistant is named in his honor.
Lucas Gouveia / How-To Geek
Where Is Rufus?
I shrugged, opened up my iPad, and settled on the couch with my little dogs.
OG Rufus would be proud!
To my surprise, Rufus wasn’t on my iPad, either.
I’ve learned thatspecific promptsare the best way to get a nuanced response with the information you want.
Rufus responded by giving me lots of information about Prime Day.
There was no information about toys.
Perhaps that prompt was too complex.
This time I entered, “What are some fun outdoor toys for kids under $500?”
This time, I did get a list of products including a little playhouse and a sandbox.
Rufus did a good job with this prompt.
The error was on my part for not specifying their ages.
My 3rd prompt was, “What are some fun outdoor toys for older kids under $500?”
Rufus' suggestions are exactly the jot down of product I was looking for.
After the list of ideal products, Rufus also offered a list of suggestions for follow-up questions.
Again, some of the questions were more suited to younger kids.
However, I clicked on “What outdoor toys foster teamwork among kids”?
I’ve learned thatsolar panels are cheapand plentiful.
My next prompt was “What is the most powerful portable power station for under $1000?”
Rufus came through again.
It made good suggestions about what to look for when shopping for power stations and suggested five products.
Two of them have been on my wish list for some time.
I notice that Rufus' product suggestions do not include prices.
This is because they are product searches for a specific product instead of the product information page.
You have to leave Rufus by clicking on one of the product search suggestions to see pricing information.
Shopping Help
Next on my shopping list wereChromebooks.
Since I work mostly from the cloud, I don’t need the power of a PC.
So, I need to replace it, likely with another no-frills option.
I know what brands I like, but I don’t keep up with what product specs are current.
I’m hoping Rufus can update me.
These numbers all checked out well for basic web surfing and word processing.
After 28 days, the conversations are deleted and inaccessible by Amazon or the customer.
For one thing, it’s a little buggy.
Rufus is advertised as an Amazon search assistant, and I found that to be accurate.
It answers questions with product search suggestions instead of products, and will not give pricing information.
However, as Rufus develops, this ability may progress into something more useful.
Prime Day Ready?
My first instinct was to judge Rufus harshly as unhelpful for Prime Day because it can not give prices.
Prime Day is all about the prices!
However, I got a lot of useful information from Rufus.
Rufus has proven helpful by making good suggestions and answering simple questions.
It doesn’t handle prices, and you’re able to’t use Rufus to buy things.
However, I’d rather work with an AI that does one thing well than multiple things poorly.
I’m optimistic that this rather painfully slow Rufus rollout means his quality will remain high.
If you’re in the US and on a mobile, give Rufus a try!
