At the National Retailer Association’s annual conference in NYC, Google Cloud announced their latest efforts to revolutionize the retail industry. With a focus on personalization and efficiency, Google is hoping to inject generative AI into the world of retail.
One of their new products, the Conversational Commerce Solution, allows retailers to incorporate AI-powered agents into their online shopping experience. These agents, powered by sophisticated models like PaLM, can have human-like conversations with shoppers and offer tailored product suggestions based on their preferences.
In addition, Google Cloud unveiled their Catalog and Content Enrichment toolset, which utilizes gen AI models to automatically generate product descriptions, metadata, and categorizations from just a single product photo. Retailers can even use this toolset to create new product images from existing ones or generate AI-generated photos based on product descriptions.
Concerns have been raised about the reliability and accuracy of AI-generated content, especially when it comes to product descriptions. However, Amy Eschliman, managing director of retail at Google Cloud, assures that Google is continuously improving their tools and implementing human review processes to ensure high quality and mitigate any potential bias-related risks.
In addition to these new products, Google has also released a retail-specific Distributed Cloud Edge device, designed to reduce IT costs and accommodate retail gen AI apps. Available in various sizes, this device will allow retailers to run their AI technology even in areas with limited internet connectivity.
But the question remains: are retailers truly ready for gen AI? Walmart and Amazon have already shown interest in implementing this technology, but with recent controversies surrounding AI rollouts, it’s uncertain if the rest of the industry will follow suit.
In a survey conducted by Google, it was revealed that 81% of retail decision makers feel the urgency to adopt gen AI, with 72% ready to deploy it today. However, only time will tell if the retail industry will fully embrace gen AI from providers like Google Cloud.
In a nutshell, Google is leading the charge in incorporating generative AI into the world of retail. Their new products and tools offer retailers a more personalized and efficient shopping experience for their customers. But with the concerns and controversies surrounding AI, it’s uncertain if retailers will fully embrace this technology. Only time will tell if gen AI becomes a staple in the retail industry.
