Amazon launches Help Me Decide feature using AI to recommend products

Amazon announced a new artificial intelligence-powered shopping feature called Help Me Decide on October 23, 2025. The tool analyzes customer browsing activity, searches, shopping history, and preferences to recommend products with a single tap, aiming to simplify purchase decisions when customers browse similar items without making a purchase.

According to Daniel Lloyd, vice president of Personalization at Amazon, "Help Me Decide saves you time by using AI to provide product recommendations tailored to your needs after you've been browsing several similar items, giving you confidence in your purchase decision." The feature continues Amazon's commitment to use AI to improve the customer experience by creating tools that make shopping easier and more enjoyable.

The feature appears on product detail pages after customers view several similar items. Customers can also access Help Me Decide by tapping "Keep shopping for" on the homepage to resume previous shopping sessions. The system provides one primary recommendation along with explanations highlighting relevant features, customer review insights, and alignment with previous purchases and preferences. Additional upgrade and budget options remain available for customers who want alternatives.

Help Me Decide uses large language models and AWS services including Amazon Bedrock, Amazon OpenSearch, and Amazon SageMaker. The system matches customer information with product details and customer reviews to generate recommendations. The tool currently reaches millions of U.S. customers through the Amazon Shopping app for iOS and Android, as well as mobile browsers.

The technical implementation processes multiple data streams simultaneously. When a customer searches for camping tents after browsing adult and children's sleeping bags designed for cold temperatures, viewing large stoves for car camping, and purchasing children's hiking boots, Help Me Decide might recommend an all-season, four-person tent described as warm and spacious for family adventures. The recommendation includes specific reasoning based on these browsing patterns and purchase history.

The feature builds on Amazon's existing AI shopping tools. The company introduced its AI shopping assistant Rufus to all U.S. customers on July 12, 2024, designed to answer real-time questions about products, compare similar items, and access previous orders. Rufus utilizes a specialized large language model trained on Amazon's extensive product catalog, customer reviews, community Q&As, and web data.

Amazon unveiled AI Shopping Guides on October 13, 2024, simplifying research by bringing together expert guidance and product recommendations for hundreds of product types. The guides use large language models to analyze and synthesize product information across more than 100 categories including televisions, living room tables, area rugs, and smart watches.

The Interests feature launched on March 26, 2025, continuously scanning for new products matching personalized prompts and notifying customers about items aligned with their passions. Customers create personalized shopping prompts using natural language to describe interests, price limits, and preferences.

Amazon introduced Lens Live on September 2, 2025, an enhanced visual search tool powered by artificial intelligence to deliver real-time product scanning and instant matches. The feature integrates Rufus directly into the camera experience, creating what Amazon describes as the most advanced visual shopping tool available on mobile platforms.

The Help Me Decide feature matters for the marketing community because it represents another step in Amazon's strategy to keep customers within its ecosystem while using AI to influence purchase decisions. Industry experts have noted that Amazon seeks to control the customer relationship and monetize first-party data with advertising, blocking third-party AI bots from accessing its platform while developing internal tools.

The personalized recommendation approach raises questions about product discovery and visibility for sellers. As Amazon's AI systems make more purchase recommendations based on browsing history and preferences, products that align with algorithmic criteria may gain advantages over alternatives. Marketing professionals need to understand how their products appear not just to human shoppers but to algorithmic recommendation systems.

The timing of the announcement comes as major technology companies compete to develop AI shopping assistants. Microsoft launched the Copilot Merchant Program on April 18, 2025, creating an avenue for retailers to integrate product catalogs with its AI assistant platform. OpenAI launched instant checkout capabilities for ChatGPT on September 29, 2025, with Shopify integration enabling transactions through AI chatbots.

Help Me Decide fits within broader industry trends toward AI-mediated shopping experiences. Research from Deloitte Digital released on August 6, 2025, revealed that 80% of U.S. consumers are more likely to make purchases when brands offer personalized experiences. The study examined three approaches to personalization implementation: customer-based personalization delivering highly specific recommendations, cohort-based personalization grouping customers into segments, and aggregated data personalization leveraging insights from large datasets.

Amazon's approach differs from competitors by maintaining exclusive control over customer data and shopping experiences within its platform. The company updated its robots.txt file on August 21, 2025, to block AI bots from OpenAI, Anthropic, Meta, Google, and Huawei while developing competing tools including Rufus and a "buy-for-me" feature. This strategy protects Amazon's $56 billion advertising business built around shoppers browsing its site.

The feature's reliance on browsing history and purchase data raises considerations about data privacy and algorithmic influence on consumer choices. Amazon has not explicitly addressed these concerns in its announcement. As AI assistants process user queries and interact with personal data, companies must navigate complex data protection regulations and user privacy expectations.

For advertisers and sellers on Amazon's platform, Help Me Decide introduces another variable in product discoverability. Products that perform well in Amazon's recommendation algorithms may see increased visibility, while others might face reduced exposure. This dynamic creates pressure to optimize product listings, specifications, and metadata for machine understanding rather than solely for human shoppers.

The implementation demonstrates Amazon's technical capabilities in applying AI to commerce at scale. Using Amazon Bedrock, OpenSearch, and SageMaker, the system processes vast amounts of customer data, product information, and review content in real time to generate personalized recommendations. This infrastructure investment positions Amazon to continue expanding AI features across its shopping platform.

Amazon indicated plans to continue developing and refining AI-powered shopping features based on customer feedback and technological advancements. The company stated it will continue looking for ways to enhance the shopping experience, making it more convenient and enjoyable. Additional capabilities will likely launch throughout the remainder of 2025 and beyond.

The success of Help Me Decide will depend on customer adoption rates and satisfaction with AI-generated recommendations. Early implementations of AI shopping tools have shown some limitations. Reports indicated that Rufus doesn't always provide entirely accurate information, and recommendations remain constrained to Amazon's catalog. These challenges highlight ongoing difficulties in developing AI systems that consistently deliver reliable and comprehensive information.

Amazon extended agentic AI capabilities to advertising on September 17, 2025, through Creative Studio, a conversational tool that transforms campaign development timelines from weeks to hours. The system analyzes seller products alongside Amazon's shopping signals to generate tailored advertising concepts. This integration enables advertisers to create polished ads across Sponsored Brands, Sponsored Display, and Amazon DSP within a single workflow.

The convergence of multiple AI technologies including computer vision, machine learning, cloud computing infrastructure, and conversational AI demonstrates Amazon's ability to combine these systems into consumer-facing applications addressing practical shopping challenges. The company's 25-year history of investment in artificial intelligence technologies provides a foundation for these developments.

Help Me Decide represents Amazon's continued effort to differentiate its shopping experience through proprietary AI tools while maintaining control over customer relationships and data. As the feature reaches millions of users, its impact on shopping behavior, product discovery, and advertising effectiveness will become clearer in coming months.

Timeline

• February 1, 2024: Amazon unveils Rufus conversational AI shopping assistant in beta testing
• July 12, 2024: Amazon expands Rufus to all U.S. customers ahead of Prime Day 2024
• September 19, 2024: Amazon unveils AI-powered personalization for enhanced shopping experience
• October 13, 2024: Amazon unveils AI Shopping Guides for more than 100 product types
• October 15, 2024: Google Shopping launches AI makeover with personalized recommendations
• March 26, 2025: Amazon launches Interests feature for personalized product discovery
• April 18, 2025: Microsoft unveils merchant program for Copilot shopping integration
• August 6, 2025: Deloitte and Meta study reveals 80% of consumers expect personalized experiences
• August 21, 2025: Amazon blocks AI bots from major tech companies amid commerce battle
• September 2, 2025: Amazon introduces Lens Live with real-time scanning and AI assistant integration
• September 17, 2025: Amazon introduces agentic AI across seller platform including Creative Studio
• September 29, 2025: OpenAI launches instant checkout capabilities for ChatGPT with Shopify integration
• October 23, 2025: Amazon announces Help Me Decide feature for AI-powered product recommendations

Summary

Who: Amazon announced the feature through Daniel Lloyd, vice president of Personalization, affecting millions of U.S. customers using the Amazon Shopping app and mobile browsers.

What: Help Me Decide analyzes browsing activity, searches, shopping history, and preferences using large language models and AWS services including Amazon Bedrock, Amazon OpenSearch, and Amazon SageMaker to recommend products with explanations of why they match customer needs.

When: Amazon announced Help Me Decide on October 23, 2025, making it available immediately to millions of U.S. customers in the Amazon Shopping app for iOS and Android and mobile browsers.

Where: The feature appears on product detail pages after viewing several similar items or through "Keep shopping for" on the homepage, currently available exclusively to U.S. customers on mobile platforms.

Why: Amazon developed Help Me Decide to simplify purchase decisions when customers browse similar products without completing purchases, building on the company's strategy to use AI to improve the customer experience while maintaining control over customer relationships and monetizing first-party data with advertising.