The latest generative AI move from Amazon lets users create descriptive prompts indicating their interests, and then surfaces relevant products and services. It’s a step beyond traditional search based on keywords and past behaviors. The feature, rather boringly named “Interests”, is now available to a small audience of U.S. users in the Amazon app or on the mobile website.
Observers are pleased that genAI systems are developing the ability to explain the logic behind their results. But researchers from Anthropic report models like Anthropic Claude may claim to execute multi-step reasoning while actually making up an answer or working backwards from a clue provided in the prompt. The systems also show a disturbing ability to evade guardrails intended to prevent such deception.
Customer engagement platform Braze, which isn’t quite a CDP but builds unified customer profiles for its own activation components, announced an agreement to acquire AI decisioning company OfferFit for $325 million. OfferFit provides a multi-agent solution that recommends individual-level cross-channel customer journeys. It’s a big bet for Braze: the price is nearly 10% of the company’s $3.86 billion market cap.
Amazon agreed to pay $2.5 billion to settle a Federal Trade Commission lawsuit charging it tricked customers into signing up for Amazon Prime and then made it difficult for them to quit. A jury trial in the suit had already begun. We can only assume that Amazon didn’t like its chances.