Amazon Gives Alexa a Voice in Your Shopping Cart

Alexa, Read Me the Reviews

Amazon is piloting a new feature that uses generative AI to summarize product reviews into short audio snippets. Currently available only to select mobile app users in the U.S., the summaries aim to help shoppers quickly grasp customer feedback without reading through extensive text. The audio content is generated using artificial intelligence trained on large volumes of review data, and voiced through Amazon’s speech synthesis tools—a move that not only improves accessibility but also provides hands-free convenience. While the feature is still in trial mode, it reflects Amazon’s continuing push to infuse AI across its shopping platform, promising more efficient and personalized consumer experiences.

AI Arms Race Enters the Retail Space

The test follows a broader trend across tech giants as companies like Meta, Google, and Microsoft embed generative AI into consumer products. Amazon’s shift into AI audio aligns with how rivals are integrating conversational interfaces and summarization tools to streamline information overload. Notably, Amazon already used AI to compress written reviews into short text blurbs on some product listings. This latest move—audio synthesis—marks another step toward a voice-first commerce experience, blurring the line between digital assistant and shopping companion. Though Amazon declined to comment on a full rollout, the trial indicates the company’s intent to deepen AI’s integration into its e-commerce ecosystem.