Amazon CEO Andy Jassy says external AI shopping agents barely move the needle on ads

The AI shopping agent revolution has arrived at Amazon’s front door. According to CEO Andy Jassy, it has mostly been standing on the porch.

On Amazon’s Q3 2025 earnings call, Jassy said third-party AI shopping agents account for a very small slice of the company’s referral traffic. Their effect on Amazon Ads, he indicated, has been negligible so far.

That matters because advertising has become one of Amazon’s most important businesses. If outside bots began shopping on behalf of humans, those humans would stop seeing the sponsored listings that brands pay for.

A small share of traffic, and a familiar comparison

Jassy framed external shopping agents as an early-stage phenomenon. He compared their current position to the early days of search engines, when the technology was promising but not yet a major force in how people found things to buy.

Part of the reason the impact stays limited is Amazon’s own doing. The company blocks unauthorized scraping by external agents, which keeps outside tools from freely pulling product and pricing data off its site.

Jassy also laid out why he thinks established retailers hold the advantage over general-purpose agents. He pointed to four areas:

• Personalization: Amazon knows a shopper’s history in ways a generic agent does not.
• Accuracy of product details: getting specs, sizes and compatibility right.
• Pricing: showing the correct, current price.
• Customer trust: shoppers already know and rely on the retailer.

Alexa for Shopping is doing the heavy lifting

While outside agents remain marginal, Amazon’s in-house option is showing real traction. Jassy said Alexa for Shopping has reached between 300 million and 350 million customers over the past 12 months.

According to Jassy, shoppers who use Alexa are 60% more likely to complete a purchase than those who do not. In the US, Alexa users also spend approximately 40% more per order on average.

Amazon is also building advertising directly into that experience. The company is developing new ad formats called Sponsored Prompts and Branded Conversations within Alexa’s shopping interface.

Background: Amazon’s long game on agentic AI

Jassy indicated that the company’s work on agentic AI, meaning software that can take actions on a user’s behalf rather than just answer questions, dates back as far as 2024.

Jassy did not close the door on outsiders. Amazon is exploring potential partnerships with third-party agents down the road. The company is also working on tools that may eventually allow better integration between those agents and Amazon Ads.

What this means for Amazon, advertisers and AI agent builders

For advertisers, Sponsored Prompts and Branded Conversations are worth watching closely. These formats could represent the next version of sponsored search placements, adapted for a world where shoppers talk to an assistant instead of typing keywords.

For companies building general-purpose AI shopping agents, Amazon controls access to its catalog, actively blocks unauthorized scraping, and argues it holds structural advantages in personalization, accuracy, pricing and trust. Any path to meaningful scale on Amazon likely runs through a partnership, on terms Amazon helps set.

Key things to watch over the coming quarters include the share of referral traffic coming from external agents, any announced partnerships with third-party agent developers, and early performance data on the new conversational ad formats. Further updates on Alexa for Shopping’s reach and engagement will also show whether Amazon’s in-house bet keeps outpacing the outsiders.