Amazon has unveiled Lens Live, a new AI-powered feature in the Amazon Shopping app, designed to make real-time product discovery faster and more intuitive for millions of customers. By simply opening the Lens camera, shoppers can now instantly scan items in their surroundings and see visually similar products presented in a swipeable carousel, streamlining the process of finding exactly what they want.

Enhanced Interactivity and Cart Integration

With Lens Live, product matches appear instantly at the bottom of the screen as customers point their camera at objects. Shoppers can now tap directly on items in their camera view to focus on specific products, add them to their cart using the "+" button, or save favorites to their wishlists with a simple tap of the heart icon—without ever leaving the camera interface. This upgraded visual search creates a more dynamic and engaging shopping experience.

Rufus: AI Shopping Assistant at Your Fingertips

The integration of Amazon’s generative AI assistant, Rufus, takes Lens Live to a new level. As customers explore products through Lens Live, they are presented with suggested questions and concise summaries tailored to each item. Rufus offers instant insights on standout features and helps answer key questions, ensuring shoppers make well-informed decisions quickly. All this appears just below the product carousel, offering speedy access to valuable information and guidance.

Cutting-Edge Technology Behind Lens Live

Lens Live is powered by advanced AI and machine learning technologies, utilizing AWS-managed Amazon OpenSearch and Amazon SageMaker to operate at scale. The service uses a custom on-device computer vision model for instant object detection, allowing the app to identify and match products in real time as users pan or zoom with their camera. The underlying deep learning model compares a customer’s live view against Amazon’s enormous product catalog, surfacing exact or closely matched items within seconds. In addition, the integration of the Rufus LLM provides natural-language interactions and personalized product discovery, taking the shopping journey beyond simple visual search.

Availability and Future Rollout

Lens Live is currently available to tens of millions of U.S. customers using the Amazon Shopping app on iOS, with plans to expand access to all U.S. app users in the coming months. Traditional Amazon Lens features like snapping photos, uploading images, or scanning barcodes remain available alongside the new real-time experience, giving shoppers more ways to discover what they love.

Amazon's latest innovation, powered by AI advancements and the Rufus assistant, is transforming the way customers interact with products and make informed decisions, marking a significant step forward in the future of online shopping.