October 2, 2023

Walmart is launching generative AI to enhance the customer shopping experience.

It is doing so via developing AI-powered tools that can help customers with tasks such as planning projects, choosing products, and visualizing how products would look in their homes or on their bodies.

One of the tools, 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 can also help customers decide among products, such as choosing which cell phone would be best suited for a 10-year-old.

Another tool uses generative AI to create three-dimensional objects from still photos. This allows customers to see how clothes would look on them or how furniture and electronics would fit in their homes. Creating 3D objects using generative AI can save hundreds of dollars per item and shorten the creation process from days or weeks to minutes.

Walmart officials say they are looking at all options for AI technologies and are designing systems to be open to using whoever has the best and most cost-effective technology at a given point in time.

The sources for this piece include an article in Axios.