Amazon Launches AI Shopping by Text in Alexa

Amazon has launched shopping through text messages using its AI assistant Alexa. Shoppers can type out what item they want, or even send a photo of it. Alexa then finds that item on Amazon and pulls together the best offers before checkout. For now the service is invite-only, open to a limited group of U.S. users. Everyone else can join the waitlist here. Amazon says the service will reach "millions" of users in the coming weeks. That rollout will land right before the holiday season kicks off. Separately, two months ago Amazon shut down Muse, another AI shopping assistant, this one built by social media giant Meta.

The market for AI shopping assistants still looks like it's in its early days. Food delivery service DoorDash recently introduced its own text-based shopping assistant. So far, though, it has only processed a couple hundred orders. Amazon still has good odds of pulling this off. Plenty of shoppers are already used to messaging stores by text. On top of that, Amazon's catalog has millions of products to compare while shopping. That said, Amazon's shopping service remains invite-only and reaches just a small slice of U.S. shoppers for now.