Amazon Lens Live: AI Shopping Tool Launched

Amazon Enhances Shopping with AI: Introducing Lens Live

Amazon is continuing its investment in artificial intelligence to revolutionize the shopping experience. The company launched Lens Live on Tuesday, an AI-powered enhancement to its existing Amazon Lens feature.

This new tool enables consumers to discover products through visual search, functioning similarly to popular features offered by Google Lens and Pinterest Lens.

How Lens Live Works

Lens Live doesn’t replace the current Amazon Lens functionality. Users can still utilize Amazon Lens to identify products by taking pictures, uploading images, or scanning barcodes.

Instead, Lens Live introduces a real-time visual search capability. Customers can now point their smartphone camera at objects in their surroundings to instantly view matching products displayed in a swipeable carousel at the screen's bottom.

Expanding Amazon’s AI Toolkit

The introduction of Lens Live represents just one of several initiatives Amazon has undertaken to integrate AI into the online shopping journey.

Over the past year, the retailer has also introduced features such as the AI assistant Rufus, AI-driven shopping guides, and AI-enhanced product reviews.

• AI tools are now available to assist with finding appropriately sized clothing.
• AI-generated audio summaries of products are also available.
• Personalized shopping suggestions are being implemented.
• Tools designed for merchants are also being rolled out.

Real-World Shopping and Price Comparison

Lens Live directly addresses a common consumer behavior: price comparison while physically shopping in retail stores.

The tool allows shoppers to quickly determine if Amazon offers a more competitive price on the same or similar items.

Interactive Features and Functionality

Users can tap on any item within their camera view to activate Lens Live and focus the search on that specific product.

If a suitable match is found, customers can easily add the item to their cart by tapping the (+) icon or save it to their wishlist using the heart icon.

Underlying Technology

The Lens Live feature is powered by Amazon SageMaker services, facilitating the deployment of machine learning models at scale.

It operates on AWS-managed Amazon OpenSearch, ensuring efficient and reliable performance.

Integration with Rufus

Amazon’s AI shopping assistant, Rufus, is also integrated into the Lens Live experience.

This integration provides customers with AI-generated product summaries and conversational prompts, enabling them to quickly research products and gain valuable insights before making a purchase.

Availability and Rollout

Lens Live is initially launching on the Amazon Shopping app for iOS devices.

The rollout will begin with “tens of millions” of U.S. shoppers, with plans for wider availability within the U.S. market in the future.

Currently, Amazon has not announced plans to expand Lens Live to international markets.