The original Rufus was a fixture in Amazon's early days, with employees even clicking his paw on a computer mouse to launch some of the company's first web pages. The corgi, who passed away in 2009, has been commemorated with a building named after him at Amazon's Seattle headquarters and pictures of him throughout its offices. The success of the AI chatbot Rufus remains to be seen.
Key takeaways:
- Amazon has launched a new AI-powered shopping assistant named Rufus, named after a Welsh corgi owned by two of the company's earliest employees.
- Rufus the dog was a fixture in Amazon's early days, with employees even clicking his paw on a computer mouse to launch some of the company's first web pages.
- The AI chatbot Rufus is designed to answer questions about items, recommend products, and improve search by providing a more personalized chatbot-style interface.
- Rufus is still in beta testing and could be rolled out within weeks, as part of Amazon's AI-powered features overhaul codenamed 'Project Nile'.