Have you been seeing that little orange and blue dot coming up in your Amazon page lately? That’s Amazon Rufus, Amazon’s new AI shopping assistant launched earlier this year. Rufus is designed to be your personal shopper, available 24/7 in the Amazon Shopping app and now on desktops. Yet, in trying to make your shopping experience smooth, frequent pop-ups have really tended to be more of a nuisance than a help for many users. But does that mean Rufus is all bad?
What Amazon Rufus Can Do for You
Rufus is packed with features that help in enjoying your shopping experience. It’s excellent at answering very specific questions related to the products, comparing items, and even recommending products based on one’s needs. Suppose one is seeking the best outdoor speakers; Rufus may suggest those that fit in with your environment-such as speakers fit for humid weather. Rufus pulls information from product listings, customer reviews, and community Q&As to provide comprehensive answers that will fasten your decision-making process.
By the way, do you wonder why Amazon named their AI assistant ‘Rufus’? Read this post below!
Why People Don’t Like Rufus
Those potentially helpful features have, for many users, turned into a frustration due to the frequent and uninvited pop-ups from Rufus. Just think of scrolling through results and each minute, probably every second, Rufus just pops up, covering your view. This has made the experience of convenience somewhat burdensome for others. Not in control of if or how often Rufus pops up, some shoppers wanted just a little more elbow room.
How to Disable Amazon Rufus AI Chat on Desktop?
It seems Amazon is listening, as many customers have been reporting their gripes to Amazon’s customer service. The good news is that Amazon seems to be listening to gripes from its paying customers. Most probably, it is working on responding to the feedback by finding ways to provide more user controls on when Rufus shows up. While there is an official way to disable Rufus yet, there is a workaround that might make your experience more bearable.
Step 1: Install uBlock Origin
First, ensure that you have the uBlock Origin extension installed on your browser.
Step 2: Open Amazon on Your Desktop
Open the website of Amazon via your preferred desktop browser that has Rufus enabled on it.
Step 3: Locate the Rufus Pop-up and Block
Once Rufus pops up, move your mouse over the popup and Right-click on the Rufus pop-up. In the context menu, click “Block element” which should be provided by uBlock Origin. (Image placeholder)
Step 4: Confirm the Block
A uBlock Origin interface will pop up where the element to be blocked is highlighted. Scroll through and confirm to set the blocking rule.
Step 5: Repeat if Necessary and Refresh the Amazon Page
Rufus might be made up of more elements. If after blocking, some parts of Rufus still show, then you repeat the steps.
Refresh the Amazon page once all the elements have been blocked. No more Rufus in sight. If there are any leftovers still to be seen, block those too, and Rufus will disappear.
Additional Tips:
- Chrome Users: If you don’t see the option to “Block element”, this may be due to the context menu not being allowed in the settings of uBlock Origin. Open the uBlock Origin dashboard, click settings, and allow the context menu.
- For Users Using Edge: The context menu option must be enabled under settings of uBlock Origin just like in Chrome.
- Using Different Browsers: In the following steps, replicating this using Firefox, Chrome, and Edge is fairly possible. For best results, make sure you’re working on the latest version of uBlock Origin.
