Amazon launches AI-generated ‘canvas’ for sellers as e-commerce platforms race to add AI tools

Amazon is adding a new layer to its AI tools for online sellers, rolling out a feature that provides customized, interactive dashboards and scenario planning in real time.

The new “dynamic canvas” in Amazon’s Seller Central displays data, charts and different options for sellers in response to user prompts. It expands the existing Seller Assistant, an AI chat tool that Amazon introduced in 2024 and later upgraded with agentic capabilities.

“It’s the difference between giving someone a better calculator and giving them a financial advisor who really understands their business inside and out,” said Mary Beth Westmoreland, Amazon’s vice president of Worldwide Selling Partner Experience, in an interview. 

The announcement comes as e-commerce platforms race to embed AI into their tools. Shopify offers its Magic and Sidekick AI assistants. Walmart built a tool called Wally for merchants and partnered with OpenAI and Google to let consumers use chatbots to shop.

The financial stakes are high for Amazon: Independent sellers account for more than 60% of sales in Amazon’s store, and third-party seller services generated more than $172 billion in revenue for the Seattle-based company in its most recent fiscal year.

Not all sellers have embraced the AI tools. An Amazon Seller Central forum post announcing an update four months ago drew 36 thumbs-down votes against 5 thumbs-up. Sellers complained about broken links, generic recommendations and, in one case, an AI response that advised a seller dealing with false policy violations to seek legal action against Amazon.

Asked about the forum feedback, Westmoreland cited internal data showing that sellers accept Seller Assistant’s recommendations nearly 90% of the time, as an indication of its effectiveness. 

The new canvas for Seller Assistant goes further to provide “a lot more context to sellers in a visual way” that helps them understand recommendations more deeply, she said.

Sellers can ask questions like “How are my products performing?” and the canvas generates charts showing sales trends, traffic and inventory health. They can also test scenarios such as “What if demand drops 10%?” and see projected impacts on revenue and cash flow before committing to a decision.

Much of the interface is generated dynamically by the AI rather than pulled from preset templates. The system runs on Amazon Bedrock using Amazon’s Nova models and Anthropic’s Claude. Westmoreland said Amazon built the architecture to swap between models as needed.

The Seller Assistant canvas will be available starting Tuesday to all sellers in the U.S. and U.K. at no additional cost. It launches with performance analysis tools, and Amazon plans to add marketing optimization, inventory planning and product launch features in coming months.