Amazon anticipates that its AI-powered shopping assistant, Rufus, will indirectly add over $700 million to its operating profit this year, according to a report on Thursday by Business Insider after obtaining an internal document.
Rufus, integrated into the Amazon Shopping app and website, enhances the shopping experience by answering customer queries and providing product recommendations. While it does not generate direct revenue, its impact is measured through Amazon’s "downstream impact" (DSI) metric, which tracks additional consumer spending driven by a product or service.
Despite an estimated $285 million loss in 2024, Rufus is expected to contribute $1.2 billion in DSI profits by 2027. This projection includes revenue from ads embedded in its responses. The strong growth outlook appears to be driving Amazon’s push to expand Rufus and its broader AI search capabilities.
