I’m riding a package on a conveyor belt during Cyber Monday, one of the busiest days at Amazon Fulfillment Center, held in Orlando, Florida on December 2, 2024.
Miguel J. Rodriguez Carrillo | Getty Images
Amazon On Wednesday, they introduced artificial intelligence agents to help third-party merchants run their online business.
The company is adding agent functionality to Seller Assistant, an AI tool for third-party sellers. This means that software can take action on behalf of merchants with permission, Amazon said. This update was announced at Amazon’s annual Accelerate Conference for sellers in Seattle.
Amazon said tools like the seller’s assistant free merchant “expend more time to concentrate on product innovation and customer relationships,” but its generative AI tools handle more boring operational tasks.
Amazon has released several AI tools for third-party sellers, including product list generators and image and video generators for advertising, which account for more than half of all products sold on the site.
Dharmesh Mehta, vice president of Amazon’s Worldwide Selling Partner Services, told CNBC in an interview this week that 1.3 million third-party sellers are using its generative AI listing tool.
“In a way, it really gives the seller a team of experts,” Mehta said. “Specialists in listings, pricing and promotions, supply chains. Everything that small businesses usually have to accept that they are trying and learning and learning for themselves, whether they hire someone to become an expert, pay someone to become an expert, sometimes they’re not good at it.”
The company says that the enhanced seller assistant can not only answer queries, but also coordinate inventory orders and business growth plans and implement fixes for account issues, which could help merchants avoid costly outages.
Over time, Amazon expects to add agent functionality based on seller feedback, the company added.
Generation AI has evolved from image generators to agent AI tools, allowing users to complete multi-step tasks with minimal oversight. Outside of the third-party market, Amazon’s AI Lab in San Francisco released a preview of agents that can perform actions in a web browser.
Seller Assistant uses Bedrock, a software tool that allows users to access large language models from Amazon and other companies such as Anthropic and Openai.
The company is currently not planning to charge merchants to use the seller’s assistant, Mehta said.
Sellers pay Amazon to access in-house fulfillment services, account management services and other services. It became a considerable business for the company, bringing $40.3 billion in the second quarter.
Amazon launched its first iteration of AI assistants for sellers last September. Called the project Amelia at the time, merchants troubleshoot account issues, get advice on inventory planning, and brainstorm titles.
