Amazon's Plan to Index the World's Online Shopping Data (yahoo.com) 15
Amazon is considering a "World Product Graph" that would index information about products sold across the internet in an effort to keep shoppers and AI agents from turning to Google, Reddit or other sources for product research. The proposed database could also improve Amazon's AI shopping assistant by addressing inaccurate or incomplete answers and allowing it to use cheaper models.
"Amazon cannot be the go-destination for every shopping mission if customers must leave to research product relationships on Google, brand websites, and review sites," according to an internal Amazon document. "These answers exist, but the only way to find them has been to leave Amazon for painstaking research on brand websites, third party review sites and tech forums." Reuters could not determine if or when this plan may be implemented, though the document, written like a press release, has an aspirational future release date of October 1, 2027.
Amazon said in a statement: "Draft, outdated documents often paint an incomplete picture and the existence of a brainstorming document such as this one doesn't necessarily reflect our current plans. We're constantly working on new ideas and technologies to make Amazon's product catalog comprehensive, accurate, and helpful for customers."
"Amazon cannot be the go-destination for every shopping mission if customers must leave to research product relationships on Google, brand websites, and review sites," according to an internal Amazon document. "These answers exist, but the only way to find them has been to leave Amazon for painstaking research on brand websites, third party review sites and tech forums." Reuters could not determine if or when this plan may be implemented, though the document, written like a press release, has an aspirational future release date of October 1, 2027.
Amazon said in a statement: "Draft, outdated documents often paint an incomplete picture and the existence of a brainstorming document such as this one doesn't necessarily reflect our current plans. We're constantly working on new ideas and technologies to make Amazon's product catalog comprehensive, accurate, and helpful for customers."
This kind of thinking is why (Score:3)
This kind of thinking is why I'm switching to a dumb phone. I don't want AI forcing itself into my face pretending it is a primary source. I want a tool that isn't trying to use me.
You don't get the right to get first person information anymore. The ui is made to make that complicated for these search engines. People here would rather vote me down to protect their stocks than talk about it. Protect IPOs written like the plan for genocide in the Mein Kompf.
Fix your shit search (Score:3)
I don't shop for stuff on Amazon because I know I won't be able to find it.
They don't need more data, they need one decent programmer.
Re:Fix your shit search (Score:4, Interesting)
All they need is honest intent to empower the customer to find the information they want to use to make their purchasing decision.
That's it. If their programmers are mediocre, it just takes more iterations to get to the intended result.
Better programmers won't produce a result that conflicts with Amazon's intent. Which is to manipulate the customer in any way they can that produces a sale.
They're not going to bring back the useful search tools they had in the past, or expand that utility, unless the average customer obtains either self-respect or demands ethical treatment. Neither of those is even on the table.
So. Much. Shit. (Score:2)
Amazon need to fix their fucking useless item search first. I don't shop for stuff on Amazon because I know I won't be able to find it. They don't need more data, they need one decent programmer.
If you’re not searching by specific make and model anywhere online, you’re likely to get a mixed bag of shit. Because “shit” is sold under 17 brands in 13 categories within 7 industries now. Nope. Not shitting you.
What Amazon is asking for, they already have (ratings, reviews, and how-tos). What they ironically need, is to get rid of the botware and paid reviewer sniping that goes on between brands that they likely encourage (sell to both sides), in order to get USEFUL reviews an
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Hear hear! When I'm looking for a kind of product on Amazon, I frequently go to Google and search with "site:amazon.com". Amazon search throws up a bunch of crap that doesn't even have my keywords in it.
Fuck, Amazon (Score:3)
A reason to not use, (and uninstall, if an applet), Amazon services, including their cloud computing (Web Services). Amazon is attempting to create a walled garden that excludes every other shop on the planet. Considering half the web-pages I view, are captioned out-of-stock, Amazon should fix their own shop before planning to steal someone else's.
Every shop on the planet now has an incentive to poison Amazon's web-scraping bots. If Amazon fails to turn an entire country into a "company town", another USA-based mega-corporation will repeat the attempt, so the need to poison web-scraping bots, remains.
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Interesting to note ... (Score:3)
Users have to leave because .... (Score:2)
Fix reviews on their own site (Score:3)
A year now (Score:2)
I was already sick of paying an Amazon premium for AliEx items and trying to search their site was too frustrating to even bother any more.
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Seems these days you need a degree in internets to just use their search. It's full of sponsored items and really quite a hassle to select "sold and shipped by Amazon".