Amazon is working on a secret project codenamed Starfish that aims to make it the best source of product information for “all products worldwide,” whether or not they are sold on Amazon marketplaces, according to documents obtained by Business Insider.
The document describes a project that uses AI models to “synthesize” information from various data sources, including external websites and images, and then generate “complete, correct, and consistent product information globally.” So like Google Shopping Index?
Starfish is part of the company's effort to simplify product listings for third-party sellers. Amazon began rolling out features a couple years ago to help merchants AI-generate stronger product descriptions from short inputs or individuals URLs, alongside AI tools that automatically generate product images and video ads.
The document explained:
“Starfish enriches product data using LLM, improves Catalog at scale by filling missing information, correcting errors, rewriting titles, bullet points, and product descriptions to make them more relevant for the customer.”
Manually creating listings is time-consuming for sellers, so speeding up the process could help encourage more merchants to sell their products on Amazon. The process of listing an item could become as easy as one-click to publish for third-party sellers.
Amazon's internal document estimated that Starfish is expected to collect product information from 200,000 external brand websites this year and contribute $7.5B in extra GMV in 2025 by driving better conversions and building a broader product selection. It could also help fuel Amazon's agentic AI ambitions, including the company's the new “Buy for Me” recommendation system for external products.
Amazon's ambitions are clear: It doesn’t just want to sell everything; it wants to know everything that's sold, anywhere.