Amazon’s “Join the chat” lets shoppers ask questions mid-audio and get real-time spoken answers
Shopping on Amazon just got a whole lot more conversational.
The e-commerce giant launched a new AI-powered feature Tuesday that lets customers ask questions about products and receive spoken, real-time responses — no scrolling through hundreds of reviews required.
Here’s how it works— Open any product page in the Amazon Shopping app and tap the Hear the highlights button, located just below the product image. From there, a short AI-generated audio summary plays, covering key product details, standout features, and customer feedback. If you want to dig deeper, tap the Join the chat icon and ask your own questions — by text or by voice.
The feature is built around what Amazon calls AI-powered shopping experts, which respond in a natural, back-and-forth style rather than giving canned answers. Ask whether a coffee maker is easy for beginners. Ask if a sweater runs itchy. The AI pulls from product descriptions and customer reviews to give you a real, relevant answer — and it builds on what it already told you, so nothing gets repeated.
Customers can ask questions and actually steer where the conversation goes, Amazon said in a blog post. Every question they ask influences what comes next, making the experience a conversation customers can join and customize.
Think of it less like a search bar and more like asking a knowledgeable friend who actually read all 4,000 reviews so you don’t have to.
How to use it
Using the feature is straightforward. Open the Amazon Shopping app on iOS or Android and navigate to any product page. Look for the Hear the highlights button sitting just below the product images — if it’s there, that product has an audio summary available. Tap play and two AI hosts kick off a podcast-style conversation about the product’s key features, pros, cons, and what real customers are saying.
At any point during the audio, you can jump in. Tap the raised-hand icon to go full screen, then type your question or hit the microphone to ask by voice. The AI hosts pause, answer your specific question using product details and customer reviews, then pick right back up where they left off. You can also minimize the player and keep listening while you continue browsing — the audio doesn’t stop.
Amazon says the AI is context-aware, meaning it tracks what’s already been covered and won’t repeat itself when answering follow-up questions. The more you ask, the more tailored the conversation becomes.
Part of Amazon’s bigger AI shopping push
Join the chat is an extension of the Hear the highlights experience, which has been rolling out across millions of product pages since testing began last May. What started as a passive listening feature has now become fully interactive.
The technology behind it pulls from multiple sources at once — Amazon’s product catalog, customer reviews, and publicly available information from across the web — using large language models to generate scripts that adapt in real time based on what shoppers ask.
The launch adds to Amazon’s growing suite of AI shopping tools. Rufus, its generative AI shopping assistant, helps customers research products and compare options on demand. Interests continuously monitors a shopper’s preferences and surfaces new items that match. Help me decide recommends products based on a person’s browsing and purchase history. And Buy for Me — currently in beta — can even complete purchases from third-party brand websites using agentic AI, no human input needed.
Together, these tools signal a clear direction for Amazon— less reading, less scrolling, faster decisions.
Hear the highlights and Join the chat are currently available in the U.S. on select products through the Amazon Shopping app on both iOS and Android.
Source: TechCrunch