Amazon offers new generative AI tool for e-commerce sellers
Project Amelia is a selling expert that provides sellers with answers to questions. It makes use of broad knowledge and will soon provide answers to complex problems.
Amazon has a new generative AI tool for independent sellers.
The e-commerce giant introduced in beta Project Amelia, an AI assistant built using Amazon Bedrock. Amazon Bedrock is a fully managed service from AWS that offers various foundation models from providers such as AI21 Labs, Cohere, Meta and Stability AI, as well as Amazon's own generative AI models.
Project Amelia
Amazon said Amelia, the generative AI assistant, uses broad world knowledge and is a selling expert that provides answers and tools to help sellers succeed.
With Amelia, introduced on Sept. 19, sellers can ask specific questions and receive summarized information from reliable sources on Seller Central, a dashboard where Amazon sellers manage their accounts. Sellers can also receive sales data and customer traffic information with natural language questions like "How is my business doing?" Amazon said.
The generative AI assistant also will soon be able to offer straightforward resolutions to complex situations, according to the vendor.
However, just one specific model is not sufficient to help enterprises and small businesses succeed, Forrester Research analyst Rowan Curran said.
There is also a need for strong knowledge bases, especially with B2B and B2C marketing and sales lifecycles in which generative AI technology is giving insight, he added.
It's not enough to simply provide a powerful model to differentiate in the market.
Rowan CurranAnalyst, Forrester Research
"It's not enough to simply provide a powerful model to differentiate in the market. Vendors need to provide value in both the specific, differentiated insights as well as an engaging and intelligible user experience," Curran said. "Providers with access to large amounts of well-curated data about customers and users will be able to deliver on this much more effectively."
This is what Project Amelia does. It combines the capabilities of models on Amazon Bedrock with Amazon's knowledge base.
Many AI vendors are not only using broad data, but also partnering with e-commerce companies to gain this data.
For example, on Sept. 18, OpenAI and T-Mobile revealed a multiyear agreement to create an intent-driven AI decisioning platform called IntentCX. Using T-Mobile data, IntentCX will apply understanding and knowledge about the customer and aim to resolve issues on their behalf. The new IntentCX will launch in 2025, according to the companies.
Challenge of adoption
For Amazon, Amelia will help users realize some productivity and optimization gains, Constellation Research analyst Liz Miller said. That is because sellers can ask for early alerts about improving planning, inventory and pricing.
However, Amazon might find it challenging to ramp up adoption, she added. While Amazon has seen an increase in seller tools, it's not clear how many sellers will use the tools.
If Amazon can get sellers to use Amelia, the benefit could be considerable, Miller said.
"Clearing small hurdles around small businesses trusting AI will pale in comparison to the payoff if sellers can sell more merchandise more effectively and efficiently to add to their already multibillion-dollar contribution to the bottom line," she said.
Other than Amelia, Amazon revealed other ways it's using generative AI. Later this year, the e-commerce vendor plans to use generative AI to help sellers create multiple listings on the Amazon e-commerce platform.
The e-commerce vendor also introduced Video Generator, a generative AI tool that helps sellers create video ads at no additional cost. Brands on Amazon also have a new tool called A+ Content that enables brands to develop image carousels and comparison charts on their product pages.
Esther Ajao is a TechTarget Editorial news writer and podcast host covering artificial intelligence software and systems.
