Amazon Begins Testing Interests in the U.S.

Amazon has begun testing its AI-powered Interests feature in the Amazon app and mobile website on Android and iPhone. It’s currently available only to “a small subset of U.S. customers,” but will roll out to the rest Amazon’s customers in the U.S. in the coming months.

“Whether you’re a photography enthusiast who always wants the best new gear, a golfer hooked on the latest equipment, a music lover who enjoys fresh merch from your favorite artists, or a football fan looking for new game-day apparel, staying on top of new products related to your interests can sometimes feel like a part-time job,” Amazon vice president Daniel Lloyd writes in the announcement post. “Enter Amazon’s newest AI-powered feature—Interests—which, which transforms how you discover and shop for products related to your passions by constantly checking new inventory that’s been added to Amazon’s vast online store to help you quickly and easily find new items you might want.”

Interests lets Amazon customers create personalized shopping prompts tied to interests, price limits, and preferences using natural language. Some sample prompts Amazon provided include:

• “Model building kits and accessories for hobbyist engineers and designers”
• “Brewing tools and gadgets for coffee lovers”
• “The latest pickleball gear and accessories”
• “natural makeup products for summer glow from top brands”

When you create a prompt, Amazon will show you the results, but it will also periodically scan the store and notifying you when there are new relevant products, restocks, and sales.

To see whether you can access Interests yet, open the Amazon app or mobile website on an iPhone or Android smartphone and tap on “Me” (the Weeble-like icon). You will see a “Your Interests” section with a “Create a new Interest Prompt” button. Once you create one or more Interest Prompts, they will appear on that Me page under “Your Interests Prompts.”

To test this feature, I first created a prompt, “Synology NAS.” And then I tried more specific prompts, like “Synology NAS under $400” and “Two-bay Synology NAS.” It appears to work well enough, but the later notifications will determine how useful this feature is, I guess.