Walmart experiments with generative AI to help people shop
The retail giant has been leveraging advanced technologies like AI for office workers and VR for training floor staff (we heard at AWE this year that they have trained more than 1 million associates using VR). Now it is tapping GenAI for shopping tools.
In a briefing with reporters in San Francisco [last week], Walmart showed how the technology can be useful, both to directly communicate with customers as well as behind the scenes, to help customers envision what products would look like in their homes or on their bodies..
The first, a shopping assistant, is designed to help customers who are looking to take on a project, such as planning a birthday party, decorating a home for the holidays or outfitting a new dorm room. The assistant, which Walmart hopes to begin testing in the coming weeks, can also help customers decide among products, such as choosing which cell phone would be best suited for a 10-year-old.
Generative AI also allows Walmart to create three-dimensional objects from still photos, removing any occlusions from, say an arm or hand covering part of an outfit. The results are clothes that can be placed on a virtual model or furniture and electronics to be realistically placed inside a scan of one's living room.
Creating 3D objects using generative AI versus traditional modeling technologies can save hundreds of dollars per item and shortens the creation process from days or weeks to minutes.
Full story at Axios.
