Amazon launches Join the Chat, turning AI shopping into real-time audio conversations

Amazon launches an AI-powered audio Q&A experience on product pages | TechCrunch

Amazon launched a new AI-powered feature on Tuesday that allows users to ask questions about products and receive conversational audio responses generated in real time. The responses are delivered by what the company calls "AI-powered shopping experts," which present information in a natural, discussion-style format. The new "Join the chat" feature aims to save customers time by providing key product details without requiring them to scroll through lengthy descriptions or reviews. The AI pulls together insights about product features, customer feedback, and other relevant information. For example, shoppers can ask questions like whether a coffee maker is suited for beginners or whether a sweater feels itchy based on customer reviews. Rather than giving generic answers, Amazon says the AI builds on previous responses to provide more relevant and helpful information, while also making sure not to repeat anything. This is meant to be a similar experience to speaking with a knowledgeable employee at a store. "Customers can ask questions and actually steer where the conversation goes. Every question they ask influences what comes next, making the experience a conversation customers can join and customize," the company writes in a blog post. "Join the chat" is part of a broader experience called "Hear the highlights," which offers short audio summaries on millions of product pages within the Amazon Shopping app. That feature began testing last May and is currently available in the U.S. However, only select products have audio summaries. To use the feature, customers open a product page in the app and tap the "Hear the highlights" button, located below the product image. From there, they can listen to a brief overview or tap the "Join the chat" icon to ask specific questions via text or voice. The audio can continue playing even as users browse. The new capability builds on Amazon's growing lineup of AI-driven shopping tools. These include Rufus, its generative AI assistant that helps customers research products and compare options, Interests, which continuously tracks and surfaces new items aligned with a shopper's preferences, and "Help me decide," which suggests products based on a person's searches, browsing, and shopping history.

Amazon's AI-generated shopping experts now let you ask questions - Engadget

Rejoice: The Amazon app now lets you ask real shopping questions to its fake podcasters -- it's an addition to the "Hear the highlights" AI feature the company introduced last year. Before, the short audio summaries were generated from an unalterable script. Now, the dialogue can adapt to your spoken or typed questions. Amazon says Hear the Highlights is now available for "millions of products" in the company's mobile app. You'll see a button beneath the product image for supported listings. Choosing this will launch a short (usually a minute or two) AI-generated audio snippet. The recordings star a "host" and an "expert" of which chat about aspects of the product. What's new is the ability to interrupt the AI broadcasters for a Q&A. After starting the audio, tap the raised hand icon in the audio pop-up, then type or speak (using the mic button) your questions. The AI hosts will continue with their script, squeeze in your question between sections, and then return to their original spiel.

Amazon now lets you have a real conversation with AI while shopping for products

Amazon's new Join the chat feature lets you ask questions while listening to AI product summaries Shopping on Amazon just got a lot more conversational. The company has launched Join the chat, a new interactive feature inside its existing Hear the highlights experience. If you have not come across Hear the highlights before, it is an AI-powered audio summary tool that lives on millions of product pages inside the Amazon Shopping app. It gives you a short audio rundown of a product's key features, pulled from product details, customer reviews, and other publicly available information. Recommended Videos Now, the 'Join the chat' feature takes it one step further by letting you have a conversation with the AI. How does Amazon's Join the chat feature work? Once you tap play on the Hear the highlights button below a product image, you can tap the raised-hand icon to expand into full-screen view and either type or speak your question. The AI hosts can pause, answer your question in real time, and then pick up right where they left off. You can also minimize the player and keep listening while you browse. The AI does not give generic answers either. It tracks what has already been covered in the audio summary and responds with new, relevant information each time. So if you ask whether a coffee maker suits a beginner or someone with barista experience, or whether a sweater feels itchy based on reviews, you get a tailored, context-aware answer rather than a canned response. Amazon describes it as the kind of conversation you would have with a knowledgeable store employee. Join the chat is now live on iOS and Android in the US. What else has Amazon been up to lately? Amazon recently launched a dedicated storefront for AI-powered gadgets, giving AI-enhanced devices their own curated corner of the marketplace. And for Kindle fans, Amazon also fixed one of the most complained-about issues with the Kindle Colorsoft, addressing the screen experience that made reading after dark more of a chore than it needed to be.

Amazon launches AI shopping chat with voice responses

Amazon launched a new AI-powered feature that allows users to ask questions about products and receive real-time conversational audio responses. The feature, named "Join the chat," is designed to provide customers with key product details without the need to scroll through lengthy descriptions or reviews. The AI generates responses, referred to as "AI-powered shopping experts," by pulling insights from product features and customer feedback. Users can inquire about specifics, such as whether a coffee maker is suitable for beginners or if a sweater feels itchy based on customer reviews. This functionality aims to replicate a conversation with knowledgeable store employees. According to the company, the AI builds on previous answers to offer relevant information without repeating itself. "Customers can ask questions and actually steer where the conversation goes," Amazon stated in a blog post. "Every question they ask influences what comes next, making the experience a conversation customers can join and customize." "Join the chat" is part of a broader functionality called "Hear the highlights," which offers short audio summaries on millions of product pages within the Amazon Shopping app. This feature began testing in May and is available in the U.S. for select products. Customers can initiate the feature by opening a product page and tapping the "Hear the highlights" button or by accessing the "Join the chat" icon. The audio responses can continue playing while users navigate through other items in the app. This development is part of Amazon's expanding suite of AI-driven shopping tools, which also includes Rufus, a generative AI assistant for product research; Interests, which surfaces new items aligned with user preferences; and "Help me decide," which suggests products based on individual shopping behaviors.

Amazon Transforms Audio Summaries Into Interactive AI Dialogues | PYMNTS.com

By completing this form, you agree to receive marketing communications from PYMNTS and to the sharing of your information with our sponsor, if applicable, in accordance with our Privacy Policy and Terms and Conditions. This feature already provided AI-generated audio summaries of key product features. Now, with the addition of a "Join the Chat" feature, it can also answer questions during those summaries, Amazon said in a Tuesday (April 28) blog post. When customers ask questions during the summary, the AI host will pause, answer the question in real time, and then pick up where it left off with the summary. Join the Chat is now available to U.S. customers in the Amazon Shopping app, on both iOS and Android devices. Hear the Highlights, of which Join the Chat is a part, is available for millions of products, though not all products. To use these tools, app users go to a product detail page; tap play on the Hear the Highlights button, if there is one, to hear the audio summary; tap the raised-hand icon to initiate Join the Chat; and either type or use the microphone icon to ask a question. Rajiv Mehta, vice president, conversational shopping at Amazon, said in the post that customers can use Join the Chat at any point during a Hear the Highlights audio summary to ask questions such as "Do people find this sweater itchy?" or "Is this product dishwasher safe?" "The AI hosts incorporate the question into the conversation, deliver a tailored response grounded in product details, customer reviews and other publicly available information, and then seamlessly continue the episode," Mehta said. "Customers aren't interrupting the experience -- they're part of it." Amazon began testing the Hear the Highlights feature in May 2025, saying these AI-powered voice summaries make "product research fun and convenient -- it's like having helpful friends discuss potential purchases to make your shopping easier." The company extended Hear the Highlights to all customers in May 2025, with some observers saying this feature could replace user-created reviews as the main source of product information. The PYMNTS Intelligence report "Getting to Know You: How AI Is Shaping the Future of Shopping" found that voice commerce is one of the ways in which retailers are responding to consumers' demand for personalized, AI-driven experiences that offer convenience, customization and efficiency.