Amazon CEO Andy Jassy speaks during an Amazon Devices launch event in New York City, U.S., February 26, 2025.
Brendan Mcdermid | Reuters
Amazon, in an effort to infuse generative artificial intelligence across a wider swath of its e-commerce universe, recently began testing a shopping assistant and a health-focused chatbot with a subset of users.
AI has become a major area of investment across Amazon, including in its retail, cloud computing, devices and health-care businesses. Within the retail business, Amazon has already launched a shopping chatbot, an AI assistant for sellers and AI shopping guides.
The new services Amazon is testing appeared on its app or website in recent weeks. The shopping tool, called Interests AI, prompts users to describe an interest “using your own words,” and then it generates a curated selection of products. The feature lets consumers browse for products using more conversational language and is separate from the main search bar on Amazon’s website.
Amazon’s Interests AI feature lets users input more conversational search queries
Amazon
Within its core app, Amazon has a landing page for the feature.
“Describe your interest, like ‘coffee brewing gadgets’ or ‘latest pickleball accessories’ — and we’ll find relevant products for you,” the page says. Other suggested searches include “children books about persistence and dealing with failure,” and “brain teasers that are not too hard, made out of wood or metal.”
Amazon CEO Andy Jassy said last month that employees have built or are in the process of building roughly 1,000 generative AI applications across the company. Its cloud unit offers a chatbot for businesses, called Q.In commerce, the company has rolled out services for consumers as well as its millions of third-party sellers.
Amazon is also exploring ways that AI can address medical needs. The company is testing a chatbot on its website and mobile app called “Health AI,” which can answer health and wellness questions, “provide common care options for health care needs,” and suggest products.
While Rufus, Amazon’s shopping chatbot, can suggest products like ice packs and ibuprofen, Health AI goes further, providing users with medical guidance and care tips, such as how to deal with cold symptoms or the flu. The site says the service can’t provide personalized medical advice.
Some responses feature a “clinically verified” badge, which denotes information that’s been “reviewed by US-based licensed clinicians,” Amazon says.
Health AI also steers users to Amazon’s online pharmacy, along with clinical services offered by One Medical, the primary care provider it acquired for roughly $3.9 billion in 2022.
Amazon recently began testing a health-related AI assistant that can provide medical guidance and suggest products.
Amazon
More consumers are embracing generative AI as a shopping tool, and with features like Health AI and Interests AI, Amazon wants shoppers to use its own services over rivals like OpenAI’s ChatGPT.
With enough use, Amazon could gain valuable insights on the ways that people are interacting with AI assistants as the company prepares to overhaul Alexa, the digital assistant it launched more than a decade ago.
Amazon announced Alexa+, a new version of the technology embedded with generative AI, late last month. The company says that Alexa+, which has yet to roll out, is capable of handling more complex tasks and can serve as an “agent” by taking actions for users without their direct involvement.
Andrew Bell, an Amazon e-commerce manager for the National Fire Protection Association who also publishes research on Amazon’s patent filings and AI development, came across the new shopping and health features and recently posted about them on LinkedIn.
Bell said in an interview that Alexa+ could potentially draw upon models developed for Amazon applications like Health AI to answer queries.
“If there’s a health-related question, Alexa+ is going to maybe call on Health AI,” Bell said. “If there’s a product-related question, Alexa+ can call on Rufus.”
White House trade advisor Peter Navarro chastised Apple CEO Tim Cook on Monday over the company’s response to pressure from the Trump administration to make more of its products outside of China.
“Going back to the first Trump term, Tim Cook has continually asked for more time in order to move his factories out of China,” Navarro said in an interview on CNBC’s “Squawk on the Street.” “I mean it’s the longest-running soap opera in Silicon Valley.”
CNBC has reached out to Apple for comment on Navarro’s criticism.
President Donald Trump has in recent months ramped up demands for Apple to move production of its iconic iPhone to the U.S. from overseas. Apple’s flagship phone is produced primarily in China, but the company has increasingly boosted production in India, partly to avoid the higher cost of Trump’s tariffs.
Trump in May warned Apple would have to pay a tariff of 25% or more for iPhones made outside the U.S. In separate remarks, Trump said he told Cook, “I don’t want you building in India.”
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Analysts and supply chain experts have argued it would be impossible for Apple to completely move iPhone production to the U.S. By some estimates, a U.S.-made iPhone could cost as much as $3,500.
Navarro said Cook isn’t shifting production out of China quickly enough.
“With all these new advanced manufacturing techniques and the way things are moving with AI and things like that, it’s inconceivable to me that Tim Cook could not produce his iPhones elsewhere around the world and in this country,” Navarro said.
Apple currently makes very few products in the U.S. During Trump’s first term, Apple extended its commitment to assemble the $3,000 Mac Pro in Texas.
In February, Apple said it would spend $500 billion within the U.S., including on assembling some AI servers.
CoreWeave founders Brian Venturo, at left in sweatshirt, and Mike Intrator slap five after ringing the opening bell at Nasdaq headquarters in New York on March 28, 2025.
Michael M. Santiago | Getty Images News | Getty Images
Artificial intelligence hyperscaler CoreWeave said Monday it will acquire Core Scientific, a leading data center infrastructure provider, in an all-stock deal valued at approximately $9 billion.
Coreweave stock fell about 4% on Monday while Core Scientific stock plummeted about 20%. Shares of both companies rallied at the end of June after the Wall Street Journal reported that talks were underway for an acquisition.
The deal strengthens CoreWeave’s position in the AI arms race by bringing critical infrastructure in-house.
CoreWeave CEO Michael Intrator said the move will eliminate $10 billion in future lease obligations and significantly enhance operating efficiency.
The transaction is expected to close in the fourth quarter of 2025, pending regulatory and shareholder approval.
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The deal expands CoreWeave’s access to power and real estate, giving it ownership of 1.3 gigawatts of gross capacity across Core Scientific’s U.S. data center footprint, with another gigawatt available for future growth.
Core Scientific has increasingly focused on high-performance compute workloads since emerging from bankruptcy and relisting on the Nasdaq in 2024.
Core Scientific shareholders will receive 0.1235 CoreWeave shares for each share they hold — implying a $20.40 per-share valuation and a 66% premium to Core Scientific’s closing stock price before deal talks were reported.
After closing, Core Scientific shareholders will own less than 10% of the combined company.
Two young men stand inside a shopping mall in front of a large illuminated Apple logo seen through a window in Chongqing, China, on June 4, 2025.
Cheng Xin | Getty Images
Apple on Monday appealed what it called an “unprecedented” 500 million euro ($586 million) fine issued by the European Union for violating the bloc’s Digital Markets Act.
“As our appeal will show, the EC [European Commission] is mandating how we run our store and forcing business terms which are confusing for developers and bad for users,” the company said in a statement. “We implemented this to avoid punitive daily fines and will share the facts with the Court.”
Apple recently made changes to its App Store‘s European policies that the company said would be in compliance with the DMA and would avoid the fines.
The Commission, which is the executive body of the EU, announced its fine in April, saying that Apple “breached its anti-steering obligation” under the DMA with restrictions on the App Store.
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“Due to a number of restrictions imposed by Apple, app developers cannot fully benefit from the advantages of alternative distribution channels outside the App Store,” the commission wrote. “Similarly, consumers cannot fully benefit from alternative and cheaper offers as Apple prevents app developers from directly informing consumers of such offers.”
Under the DMA, tech giants like Apple and Google are required to allow businesses to inform end-users of offers outside their platform — including those at different prices or with different conditions.
Companies like Epic Games and Spotify have complained about restrictions within the App Store that make it harder for them to communicate alternative payment methods to iOS users.
Apple typically takes a 15%-30% cut on in-app purchases.