HEBRON, Ky. — Major retailers are competing for your wallet this week during Amazon Prime Day sales — and new AI-powered tools could help you find the lowest prices without spending all day glued to your screen.
I wanted to find out how you can find the lowest prices, so I visited one of Amazon's airhub facilities to see how the company is using AI — and how shoppers can use it, too.
Amazon's AI isn't just for warehouses anymore
Inside Amazon's operations, artificial intelligence is already doing the heavy lifting. Amazon's Andre Woodson said Amazon's air hub in Hebron is the company's largest robotic facility.
"This is an 8,000 square foot sortation building. It's the largest robotic field. We have this autonomous technologies that are hovering around and grabbing packages, they're shipping it downstream to our outbound process," Woodson said.
The same AI powering those robots is now being put to work for shoppers.
"This year we've created even stronger AI devices that's gonna allow them to find those items quicker and more efficiently," Woodson said.
WATCH: How AI tools can help you shop on Prime Day
How to use Alexa as your personal shopping assistant
For the first time, Alexa can create a personalized deals guide based on your shopping history. Here's how to get started:
- Open the Alexa app and tap the plus sign in the Alexa shopping chat bar
- Select "Prime Day Deals" to generate your personalized guide
- Let Alexa do the work — it can alert you when prices drop or even buy items for you automatically
"The best way for customers to get prepared is to sign up, build a list, then let Alexa take over," Woodson said.
Set it and forget it with Auto Buy
For shoppers who can't spend all day watching for price cuts, Amazon is rolling out a feature called Auto Buy.
Simply tell Alexa something like:
"Buy these headphones when they're $75 or less."
If the price drops to your target, Alexa can automatically complete the purchase using your default payment method.
"A lot of the AI-powered devices we've created really streamlines the process," Woodson said.
More AI tools to help you save
Beyond Auto Buy, several other new features are designed to help you shop smarter:
- Price history lookup — Ask Alexa to check up to a full year of price history. Try questions like, "What was the price last Prime Day?" or "Was it cheaper last Black Friday?"
- Personalized deal recommendations — Get suggestions based on your own purchase history
- Amazon Lens — Snap a photo of a product and find deals on matching or similar items
Don't wait too long
Some of these deals are short-lived. If you have something in your cart and the price drops, act quickly so you don't waste your money.
This story was reported on-air by a journalist and has been converted to this platform with the assistance of AI. Our editorial team verifies all reporting on all platforms for fairness and accuracy.
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