Amazon wants to enter the AI war by having its own generative AI creation for its product search. According to one of the job listings spotted by Bloomberg News, the company is looking for an engineer specializing in machine learning.
It is no doubt that big companies are now investing heavily in AI. After Microsoft revamped its services and products using OpenAI’s ChatGPT model, other giants like Google were forced to create their own entries. Both Microsoft and Google have already showcased how the AI models can be used in aiding their ad businesses, but Amazon wants to join too. According to a recent report, the company is now looking for professionals that will help in “reimagining Amazon Search” by building an “interactive conversational experience that helps you find answers to product questions, perform product comparisons, receive personalized product suggestions, and so much more.”
This is just one of the descriptions in the job listings by the company, but it seems it is determined to form a huge group that will be dedicated to this new initiative.
“This will be a once in a generation transformation for Search, just like the Mosaic browser made the Internet easier to engage with three decades ago,” Amazon details in one of the listings. “If you missed the 90s—WWW, Mosaic, and the founding of Amazon and Google—you don’t want to miss this opportunity.” And we might be seeing the changes sooner rather than later, as Amazon wants to “deliver this vision to our customers right away.”
Moreover, an Amazon spokesperson told The Verge that the company is “significantly investing in generative AI across all of our businesses,” which means we might see more than just a regular generative experience in the Amazon ecosystem in the future. And while there are still no clear details about the project’s timeframe, Amazon noted it wanted to “deliver this vision to our customers right away.”
Google and Microsoft already have clear plans on how they want to use generative AI on their platforms to promote sales. For Microsoft, it is already manifesting in the responses of its ChatGPT-powered Bing Chat, ranging from ad-supported product recommendations to links from different e-commerce websites. Yet, seeing this AI conversational feature directly available within the ecosystem of one of the biggest e-commerce platforms will be a game changer for the industry. And given that Amazon is often people’s go-to place for online purchases, having an AI-powered search might significantly boost Amazon’s business further.
