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Amazon is testing a new “Hear the highlights” feature on select product detail pages, offering short-form audio summaries of product descriptions powered by AI.
“These AI shopping experts have done the research for you, analyzing product details, customer reviews, and information from across the web, then bringing product details to life and allowing customers to simply hear the highlights,” wrote Rajiv Mehta, VP of search and conversational shopping at Amazon, in a blog entry. “The feature makes product research fun and convenient — it’s like having helpful friends discuss potential purchases to make your shopping easier, even if you’re multitasking or on the go.”
Mehta said the feature “uses large language models (LLMs) to generate scripts, pulling from Amazon’s product catalog, customer reviews, and information from across the web, and then translating the content into short-form audio clips.”
GeekWire secured an MP3 of Amazon’s script for the Keurig coffee maker here.
Mehta said the initial test will focus on products that “typically require consideration before purchase, giving helpful insights through detailed discussion, and helping Amazon customers save time while shopping.”
Products included in the test include a Ninja Blender, OSEA Undaria Algae Body Oil, the SafeRest 100% Waterproof King Size Mattress Protector, and the Shokz OpenRun Pro Open-Ear Bluetooth Bone Conduction Sport Headphones.
The summaries are currently available on select products to a subset of U.S. customers, and Amazon plans to roll out the feature on more product detail pages and to more U.S. customers in the coming months.
The feature could possibly be paired with Amazon’s Alexa voice assistant, which earlier this year received an upgrade with the addition of generative AI. Called Alexa+, Amazon describes the reboot as “smarter, more conversational, more capable, and free with Prime.”
The “Hear the highlights” feature adds to Amazon’s suite of AI-shopping tools, which includes the shopping assistant Rufus, product research tool Shopping Guide, the Interests tool that continuously monitors new products, and the Buy for Me agentic-AI tool that searches and buys items from third-party sites.
On its first-quarter analyst call, CEO Andy Jassy said Amazon has built or is in the process of building over 1,000 generative AI applications across the company. He said, “If you believe your mission is to make customers' lives easier and better every day, and you believe that every customer experience will be reinvented with AI, you're going to invest very aggressively in AI, and that's what we're doing.”