Amazon sunsets its TikTok-like feature Inspire in favor of AI-powered chatbot Rufus

The change suggests Amazon is no as longer focused on luring consumers away from apps like TikTok, especially as the popular social media platform stares down a nationwide ban in the U.S. Instead, Amazon is laser-focused on ramping up its investments in AI across all areas of the business, including shopping. 

“We regularly evaluate various features to better align with what customers tell us matters most, and as part of that, Inspire is no longer available,” an Amazon spokesperson told Modern Retail in an email statement. “Beyond Amazon, we know that customers look for inspiration and product recommendations in social feeds, and we’re innovating to make shopping Amazon products more enjoyable through seamless social media integrations.”

Amazon announced its TikTok competitor Inspire, a seemingly endless scrollable feed of shoppable videos posted by influencers and brands, in December 2022. Influencers would post product testimonials for goods sold across Amazon’s sprawling marketplace. Inspire videos also included demonstrations on how to use different products. The feature became available to all U.S. customers a few months later in 2023. Like TikTok, Inspire personalized users’ feeds based on their interests. In a bid to boost content for the feature, Amazon paid influencers to create content for Inspire.

Previously, users could access Inspire on the Amazon mobile app via a light-bulb-shaped icon at the bottom of the screen. The icon is no longer visible on the app. Amazon Live, the company’s streaming and live shopping-focused section of its marketplace, appears to still be active, suggesting Amazon is not stepping away from social shopping entirely.

Like many other tech giants, Amazon has been pouring money into AI, ramping up spending on data centers, chips and real estate needed to power artificial intelligence. Earlier this month, Amazon CEO Andy Jassy told analysts on an earnings call after it released its fourth-quarter earnings report that the Seattle-based company will spend about $100 billion on capital expenses in 2025, and that “the vast majority of that capex spend is on AI for AWS.”

But Amazon is also increasingly focused on consumer uses of AI. The technology has surged in popularity since OpenAI’s ChatGPT burst onto the scene in late 2022. Amazon has released an array of AI-powered tools for merchants and customers alike, including a chatbot assistant named Amelia and its consumer-facing counterpart Rufus. Rufus answers questions like, “Is this jacket machine washable?” and “What should I consider when buying a new laptop?”

To Melissa Minkow, director of retail strategy at digital consultancy firm CI&T, the end of Inspire signals that the feature wasn’t able to convert Amazon users into impulse shoppers, a type of consumer behavior that fuels purchases on TikTok. “Amazon is extremely experimental, piloting tons of retail initiatives and doing so quickly,” Minkow said. “However, Amazon is just as unafraid of shutting these projects down as it is of launching them if the ROI isn’t there.”

She added, “That being said, I wouldn’t be surprised if they attempt a variation of this in the future if TikTok either doesn’t survive in the U.S. or comes back less successfully.”

Sky Canaves, a retail analyst at eMarketer, agreed. 

“Shoppers just don’t turn to Amazon for the types of entertaining content that can fuel product discovery on a platform like TikTok,” she said. “Amazon has recognized this and, rather than trying to become a social platform, it’s partnered with the major ones, including TikTok, to allow users to buy directly from Amazon’s ads on these platforms, which is ultimately a boon to its retail media business.” In August, TikTok announced that users could now shop products directly from Amazon without leaving the social media app. 

All told, Canaves said Amazon’s Inspire “always felt like a pale imitation of TikTok.”