The news: Amazon has quietly begun to weave sponsored ads—its core search ad format—into Rufus, the generative AI-powered chatbot it launched earlier this year, per an Adweek report based on Amazon Ads’ September product releases.

The details: Because Rufus is trained on the retailer’s product catalog, customer reviews, community Q&As, and information from across the internet, it can respond to a broad array of questions tied to consumers’ specific needs or purposes, compare one product to another, or assist in product research. For example, a shopper might ask queries such as, “What gear do I need to go camping in the fall?” or “what to consider when buying headphones.”

• Amazon declined to share with Adweek a description or image of what the ads will look like within Rufus. However, it noted that Rufus may generate accompanying text for ads based on the context of the conversation. The ads will be based on the search terms and context of consumers’ queries.
• Amazon won’t include Rufus campaigns in the metrics that advertisers receive.

Our take: GenAI-powered chatbots are still in their early days, and consumers aren’t used to seeing advertising integrated into the responses to their queries.

• But they are used to seeing ads in their search results—both on search engines and retailers’ websites. That’s why they’re likely to see advertising within a chatbot as a natural extension of search ads.
• However, execution matters. Ads that are well-labeled, well-integrated, and relevant are more likely to drive strong results and avoid blowback. But consumers may grow frustrated if they can’t distinguish between an ad and a natural result or if the ads aren’t relevant.

Go further: Read our GenAI User Forecast 2024 report.