Amazon adds an AI audio chat to product pages that answers shoppers' questions

Amazon has launched a new mode on product pages called Join the chat, an interactive audio chat in which shoppers can ask questions about a product and get AI-generated answers in real time. The feature is built into the Amazon Shopping mobile app and extends last year's Hear the highlights audio summaries.

How it works

The flow is simple: the user opens a product page in the app, taps Hear the highlights under the image and listens to a short audio overview. If questions come up along the way, they can tap the Join the chat icon and type them or ask by voice. The system does not send a dry answer to a separate window. Instead, it weaves the reply into the ongoing audio conversation and then resumes playback from where it left off.

Amazon says the answers draw not only on the product description but also on customer reviews and other relevant public information. That lets people ask practical questions rather than abstract ones like "what are the specs": for example, whether a coffee maker suits a beginner, whether it is easy to clean, or whether people complain about an unpleasant fabric on a sweater.

One important point: the system takes earlier questions into account and tries not to repeat what has already been said, so the conversation feels coherent rather than like a set of independent tips.

"Shoppers can steer the conversation: each new question affects what

is said next."

According to Amazon, several AI components work together behind the scenes. First, a baseline audio-episode script with "AI hosts" is created for the product. When the user interrupts with a question, that script is rebuilt on the fly: the model selects an answer based on the context of the product page, the reviews and what has already been said in the conversation, and then converts the text into natural speech. The result is that the company is trying to imitate not an ordinary FAQ but a conversation with a store consultant who hears the request and adapts the delivery as the exchange goes on.

Why Amazon is doing it

Join the chat is not a standalone experiment but another layer in Amazon Shopping's large AI superstructure. For several years, the company has been moving product selection away from search and filters toward a more conversational format. First came AI summaries of reviews, then the Rufus assistant, then interests and personalized shopping suggestions. Now Amazon is adding a voice interface directly to the product page and making the process resemble a mini podcast that you can interrupt with questions.

• Hear the highlights: short audio summaries for millions of product pages.
• Join the chat: the ability to clarify details by voice or text while listening.
• Rufus: a generative assistant for researching products and comparing options.
• Interests and Help me decide: tools that track new offers and suggest choices based on a history of interests.

From a practical standpoint, the goal is obvious: shorten the time to purchase and keep the user inside the app. Instead of reading a long description, scrolling through hundreds of reviews and searching for reviews online at the same time, the shopper gets a condensed explanation in a convenient format. This is especially useful for products that usually call for comparison and deliberation: home appliances, electronics, household and personal-care items. At the same time, Amazon gets one more channel through which it can gently influence the purchase decision.

Where it is available now

The new feature is rolling out to users in the US on iOS and Android in the Amazon Shopping app. It works inside the already familiar Hear the highlights button, which has been tested since May 2025 as an audio-summary format for individual products and has since expanded to millions of product pages.

An important caveat remains: audio summaries and the chat are not available on every page. In other words, this is not yet full catalog coverage but a scalable yet selective rollout.

One more detail: playback can run in the background while the user keeps looking at the product page or scrolls through the app. That makes the mechanic closer to a podcast than to an ordinary voice assistant with a question-and-answer mode. For Amazon, it is a convenient way to turn a static product page into an interactive media format; for the e-commerce market, it is a signal that the next round of competition will be fought not only over price and logistics but also over the selection interface.

What this means

Amazon is testing not just another AI feature but a new way to sell through conversation. If the format catches on, the product page will stop being a set of text and photos: it will become a conversational interface in which AI helps resolve doubts before purchase and gets the user to a decision faster.