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Amazon's new shopping experiment is Scout, and you can try it now

Give items a thumbs-up or a thumbs-down to get tailored product recommendations.

Abrar Al-Heeti Technology Reporter
Abrar Al-Heeti is a technology reporter for CNET, with an interest in phones, streaming, internet trends, entertainment, pop culture and digital accessibility. She's also worked for CNET's video, culture and news teams. She graduated with bachelor's and master's degrees in journalism from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. Though Illinois is home, she now loves San Francisco -- steep inclines and all.
Expertise Abrar has spent her career at CNET analyzing tech trends while also writing news, reviews and commentaries across mobile, streaming and online culture. Credentials
  • Named a Tech Media Trailblazer by the Consumer Technology Association in 2019, a winner of SPJ NorCal's Excellence in Journalism Awards in 2022 and has three times been a finalist in the LA Press Club's National Arts & Entertainment Journalism Awards.
Abrar Al-Heeti
Amazon Scout

Amazon's new Scout tool offers recommendations based on your likes. 

Screenshot by Abrar Al-Heeti/CNET

Amazon's is testing a new tool called Scout that recommends products based on your likes and dislikes. The tool is available now, though it's not clear when it launched. CNBC reported on it earlier Wednesday. 

Shoppers can scroll through images of furniture; kitchen and dining items; home decor; indoor and outdoor furniture; bedding; lighting and women's shoes. After they hit the thumbs-up or thumbs-down button below an image, they'll get real-time recommendations on products. Amazon's site says more categories of items will be added in the future.

"This is a new way to shop, allowing customers to browse millions of items and quickly refine the selection based solely on visual attributes," an Amazon representative said. "It is perfect for shoppers who face two common dilemmas: 'I don't know what I want, but I'll know it when I see it' and 'I know what I want, but I don't know what it's called.'"

The tool is powered by machine learning and pulls images from Amazon's expansive selection of products to show customers a variety of items, the representative said. 

The feature is currently being tested on Amazon's site and app.