Amazon has a new trick up its sleeve, and it is a weird one. When you type a visual description into the Amazon app, like “flannel shirt” or “blue and white gingham dress,” the search bar now generates AI images of products in real time as you type.
These images are not real products you can actually buy. They are entirely made up, existing purely as visual suggestions to help you find products that look similar. Whether that sounds useful or baffling to you probably depends on how much patience you have for AI features that solve problems you did not know you had.
Why Amazon thinks fake AI product images can help you shop better
Amazon’s argument is that shoppers sometimes struggle to put what they want into words. You might want a shirt with a draped neckline, but have no idea it is called a ‘cowl neck.’ The AI images are meant to bridge that gap, letting you tap the closest match and browse real products that look similar. The feature currently only works for clothing and home goods and is available on Android and iOS.
Amazon also has a separate Shop by Style feature that shows AI-generated outfit collages where the actual clothing items are real and purchasable. Tapping a collage takes you to a curated page where you can shop individual pieces, explore similar products, or swipe between styles. That frankly sounds more useful than staring at a made-up dress.
Amazon has been quietly stuffing AI into every corner of your shopping experience
The company launched Alexa for Shopping, a conversational AI assistant designed to help you make buying decisions, and lets you have real conversations with AI while browsing products.
Amazon also experimented with turning product pages into podcasts, which did not exactly go down well. With Prime Day arriving June 23 to 26, earlier than usual this year, Amazon clearly wants all of these tools working before its biggest shopping event.
