Amazon is testing a new artificial intelligence (AI) feature designed to make users’ shopping experience more convenient. Dubbed audio product summaries, the AI-powered feature lets users listen to a short highlight about the product. The Seattle-based e-commerce giant said the audio clip has two or more AI-generated shopping experts discuss various aspects of the product to help users understand if it is the right choice for them or not. Currently, Amazon is testing the feature on a select few products, and it is available to a subset of users in the US.
In a newsroom post, the tech giant detailed the new AI feature that’s in testing. The audio product summaries are short-form audio clips which are available on the product detail page. These audio clips feature multiple AI-generated shopping experts who talk about product details, customer reviews, as well as technical information about the product sourced from the web.
Amazon says these audio highlights will eliminate the need to go through the entire product detail page or to make separate web searches to learn about the product. Since the audio format is designed as a discussion, the company believes the listening experience will also be “fun and convenient.”
Behind the scenes, the feature leverages large language models (LLMs) to generate scripts for the audio highlights. The script is written by sourcing information from the web, product catalogue, and customer reviews. Then, an AI text-to-speech (TTS) tool translates the script into audio discussion. Notably, the company did not mention which AI models were being used for this feature.
Those with access to the audio product summaries feature can open the Amazon app and click on a product to enter the detail page. Underneath the product image, users will see a new button labelled “Hear the highlights,” if an audio summary is available. Users can play the clip to learn more about the product and to make up their minds on whether to buy it or not.
Eligible users can currently find audio product summaries on these products: Ninja Blender, OSEA Undaria Algae Body Oil, Rain Showers Splash Pond Toddler Water Table, and SHOKZ OpenRun Pro – Open-Ear Bluetooth Bone Conduction Sport Headphones.
