Amazon is giving product pages the podcast treatment, and it’s as useful as it sounds. This might sound like a neat new trick till you hear what some of these AI “hosts” are actually discussing.
The company recently expanded its “Hear the highlights” feature with a new interactive mode called “Join the chat.” This feature lets shoppers listen to AI-generated audio summaries about the products they are viewing, and even ask questions by text or voice while the audio is playing. It added a layer of interactivity, with these AI hosts being capable of pausing and answering in real time. But that’s where the handy idea ends, and the bizarre bit starts.
How the early examples are already strange
Amazon’s Hear the highlights creates short audio conversations about key product features, who a product might be good for, and what shoppers should know before buying. The feature basically pulls from product details, customer reviews, and other publicly available information.
In practice, a quick audio summary could help save time and cut through the mess of shopping pages. But the problem is that products do not always deserve a cheery mini-podcast.
Futurism highlighted examples originally surfaced by Business Insider’s Katie Notopoulos, including an AI-generated shopping discussion about adult diaper rash cream. In another example, the feature reportedly generated enthusiastic commentary for a fake dog poop product, praising details like its size and realism. At this point, it becomes an automated infomercial machine rather than a helpful shopping assistant.
Useful idea with an awkward execution
Amazon is trying to make the system more conversational. The company is already pushing AI deeper into its retail experience. Rufus is one such example, functioning as an AI shopping assistant that offers product summaries.
Asking whether a humidifier works with essential oils, or whether earbuds are good for calls, can be genuinely helpful. But this is unintentionally funny when it is applied across odd, intimate, or novelty products.