MONTGOMERY COUNTY, Ala. (WSFA) – Erin Cox runs a business from her home near Montgomery that creates curriculum for parents who choose to homeschool their children.
“Over 80,000 families use our materials, so this is our family’s only income,” Cox explained.
The Gentle and Classical Press is a company called own websiteHowever, she also wanted to sell picture books on Amazon.
Cox says that shortly after registering her brand on the website, she began noticing other products being listed for sale without her permission.
Cox said she first noticed a new AI-driven feature called “Buy for Me” that allowed her to buy products directly from her website through Amazon.
Although she was able to opt out of those lists, she showed WSFA the out-of-stock listings with AI-generated descriptions that remained on the website.
Cox said while they are not available for purchase, they do pose problems in data collection.
“For us, it’s really important to know whether our advertising is working or not, so we know how to spend our very small advertising budget,” Cox explained. “Secondly, we want to make sure that no one else has data on the popularity of our products. This gives Amazon all the data about which products are doing well and which products we want to make competitive offers on.”
Cox added that it also gives customers the idea that they can go to Amazon for anything and that “there is no internet outside of Amazon.”
Cox said she has contacted the company multiple times to have these listings removed, but to no avail.
An Amazon spokesperson said the company has flagged the Cox issue internally and will respond promptly once the request is received through the appropriate channels.
The spokesperson also released the following statement:
Amazon’s Buy for Me feature allows Amazon’s AI to complete purchases on your brand’s website.
Shop Direct allows your products to appear in Amazon search results and drive customers directly to your website without listing them in Amazon’s store.
Cox is not alone in his concerns about Amazon’s introduction of AI. It has been reported nationally in media such as CNBC and bloomberg.
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