Amazon has introduced a new agentic artificial intelligence service designed to help third-party sellers automate routine tasks on its e-commerce platform. The new system expands Amazon’s use of AI beyond simple recommendations and assistance, allowing software agents to continuously monitor selected aspects of a seller’s business and take action or provide alerts based on instructions from the seller.
The technology is being introduced at a time when agentic AI is attracting growing attention across the technology industry. Unlike conventional AI systems that primarily respond to individual prompts, agentic systems are designed to handle a sequence of tasks with limited human intervention. For online sellers managing large inventories, prices, product listings and customer feedback, this type of automation could reduce the amount of time spent on repetitive monitoring and administrative work.
Amazon said the new service, referred to as “workflows,” can operate continuously according to instructions provided by sellers. A seller could, for example, create a workflow that monitors product ratings and alerts them if scores suddenly decline. Another workflow could track the prices of selected products and help sellers keep an eye on changes that may affect their competitiveness.
The approach is intended to give sellers a more automated way of managing day-to-day operations. Rather than requiring merchants to repeatedly check different parts of their Amazon business, the AI agent can monitor specified information and surface developments that may require attention. For sellers handling hundreds or thousands of products, such automation could be particularly useful because manually checking every listing, price or customer-related metric can be time-consuming.
The new capabilities are being incorporated into Amazon’s Seller Assistant platform. The system can maintain information about an individual seller’s profile and use that context to provide recommendations tailored to the seller’s business. These recommendations can cover areas such as product pricing, promotional activity and inventory management.
Maintaining a seller-specific profile is an important part of the system because businesses operating on Amazon can have very different priorities. A seller dealing with seasonal products may need to focus heavily on inventory levels, while another business may be more concerned with pricing or promotions. By using information about the seller and their activities, Amazon’s AI tools are intended to provide recommendations that are more relevant than generic suggestions.
The introduction also reflects a broader shift in how businesses are beginning to use AI. Earlier generations of AI-powered tools often required users to initiate each interaction and provide instructions whenever they needed assistance. Agentic systems are designed to operate more independently once a task has been established. That difference could make AI more useful for businesses where important information changes throughout the day.
For Amazon’s large community of independent merchants, the potential benefit is not limited to saving time. Sellers often have to make decisions about pricing, stock availability, customer feedback and promotions while also maintaining product listings and responding to changing market conditions. An automated assistant capable of monitoring several of these areas could help merchants identify issues more quickly.
Amazon said the new agent will be available to sellers at no additional cost and will be optional. Mary Beth Westmoreland, Amazon’s vice president of worldwide selling experience, said the company designed the service so sellers can decide whether to use it and determine how much personal data they are willing to share with Amazon through the system.
The question of data is particularly important as AI assistants become more deeply integrated into business operations. To provide personalized recommendations, an AI system may need access to information about a seller’s products, pricing strategies, inventory and other activities. Giving merchants control over what information they provide can therefore become an important part of how comfortable businesses are with adopting these tools.
Amazon is also allowing the seller agent to work with AI services that merchants may already use. Through a plug-in, the system can initially connect with Amazon’s Quick and Anthropic’s Claude services. The ability to interact with external AI tools could make the platform more flexible for sellers who already rely on different AI applications in their businesses.
Interoperability between AI systems is becoming increasingly significant as companies build their own digital workflows. Businesses rarely rely on a single software product for every task, and sellers may already use separate tools for marketing, analytics, writing, customer service and inventory management. Allowing an AI agent to interact with other services could make it easier to bring those activities into a broader automated workflow.
The launch also illustrates how Amazon is positioning AI as part of the infrastructure supporting its marketplace. Third-party sellers are a central component of Amazon’s e-commerce business, and tools that make it easier for those merchants to manage their operations could have wider implications for the marketplace. More efficient sellers may be able to respond faster to changes in demand, adjust prices more quickly and identify problems with products or customer feedback earlier.
