Amazon AI advances 2026 are shifting how shoppers discover products, how ads are optimised, and how success is measured.
From AI-led product recommendations through automated campaign management to deeper, simpler measurement, 2025 has seen the Amazon landscape move at a pace towards a more guided, less manual ecosystem.
And as we move into 2026, the question isn’t whether AI will shape brands’ performance, it’s which of the latest shifts matter the most – the ones where your focus should go first.
Here are the Amazon AI advances our experts have their eyes firmly fixed on…
AI-led Product Selection
Bye-bye manual comparisons – tools like Rufus and Help Me Decide show exactly where Amazon is heading, and it’s towards an ecosystem where shoppers will let Amazon choose for them based on their past behaviour, preferences and context, rather than searching through listings themselves.
Why it Matters
Rufus has already reached hundreds of millions of users and is driving higher conversion rates, while Help Me Decide reduces comparison overwhelm for shoppers with its “best match” products based on buyer signals – and this means that visibility and discovery are in a whole new ballpark.
The New Parameters
In an increasingly AI-curated world, it’s about whether Amazon’s systems can understand and categorise your products well enough to recommend them to the right people – calling for clear product data, consistent attributes and language that reflects how customers are using your products in real life.
Read more about what Rufus tells us about today’s shoppers here
Conversational & Contextual Shopping
And with voice search in the mix too, these new shopping journeys are reliant on natural language over keywords, with your potential customers framing their searches as questions as opposed to search queries and letting Amazon interpret their intent.
Why it Matters
Products surface differently under a conversational lens. If your listings rely purely on keyword optimisation, you’re running the risk of them being sidelined in favour of those that clearly explain who the product is for, what problem it solves and how it fits into real-life use cases – all markers that AI will use to work out the best choice for a customer.
The New Parameters
Brands need to optimise for how people speak – and again, this calls for clarity and completeness in terms of product data, backed by reviews that demonstrate your products’ relevance to your buyers.
The Automation of Amazon Ads
From Campaign Manager to Ads Agent, the tools announced at unBoxed are all designed to make AI the heart of advertising for Amazon brands, with a heavy emphasis on reducing manual set-up and increasing system-led optimisation.
Why it Matters
As the operational burden of Ads shifts inexorably to machines, brands’ competitive advantage moves too – away from tweaking bids towards setting the clearest of objectives, the most robust of guardrails and the best of inputs as the AI’s basis for optimisation.
The New Parameters
Success now comes down to strategy, clarity and rigour. Brands in 2026 need defined commercial goals, clean data and real, disciplined structures to make sure the new AI tools are optimising towards the right outcomes for them.
Read more in our Blog: “AI, Automation and the New Ads Era”
Streaming TV Ads – from Reach to Outcomes
Amazon Ads executives have signalled a move towards outcome-led Streaming TV (STV), where success is measured on sales, sign-ups and revenue, not just impressions, reach or frequency – and alongside this, new advances in contextual targeting are set to allow STV ads to respond to what viewers are watching in the moment.
“This shift will mean streaming TV ads will compete for performance as well as brand budgets…”
Phil Christer, Managing Director Amazon Ads UK
Why it Matters
These advances position STV as a performance-driving lever rather than a brand awareness channel, meaning it can now compete for budgets traditionally ringfenced for lower funnel activity.
The New Parameters
Brands will need clearer business objectives, better integration between STV and other Amazon formats and measurement frameworks that can link their exposure to real commercial impacts.
Data Discipline is non-negotiable
As Amazon automates more of the media process, really understanding what’s driving your incremental growth becomes harder – but so much more important.
Luckily, tools like Amazon Marketing Cloud (AMC) can help you do just this – helping to move past surface-level attribution and grasp the true value of your spend using event-level data.
Why it Matters
ROAS alone can’t explain whether ads are creating new demand or simply capturing existing intent – and without insights into incrementality? The risk is that you’ll scale your spend, without scaling your business.
The New Parameters
It’s all about being rigorous in terms of how you measure your success. Proving incremental impact, understanding cross-channel influences and validating your NTB growth will be essential to sustainable, confident growth in an ecosystem largely automated by AI.
Learn more in our Blog: “Why Incrementality is the Amazon Ads Metric you need”
5 things brands should focus on now
- Make your product data easier for AI to understand through proper structuring and clear, consistent content.
- Define your commercial North Stars, and use them to guide AI tools.
- Make sure your strategies are full-funnel, not just dictated by format.
- Strengthen how you measure success so you can prove real impact.
- Treat AI as an enabler and growth tool, not a shortcut.
Heading into 2026, control is shifting away from manual decision making for buyers and brands alike, and the brands that win out will be the ones who recognise that these new systems reward clarity, structure and discipline.
Love to get your strategies ready for the AI ecosystem that’s already taking shape? Speak to our award-winning experts today.