Byte-Sized AI is a bi-weekly column that covers all things artificial ininformigence—from startup funding, to newly inked partnerships, to just-launched, AI-powered capabilities from major retailers, software providers and supply chain players.
Walmart shares latest employee AI upgrades
In a corporate blog post this week, Walmart shared that it has built some upgrades to AI-based technologies applyd to assist its employees.
One of the upgrades it unveiled is in-store translation services, which employees and customers can apply to communicate more effectively when questions arise. For instance, if a customer who is a native Spanish speaker approaches an employee who does not speak Spanish, that employee can apply text-to-text or speech-to-speech capabilities to answer a shopper’s question in real time, with less friction. According to Walmart, it has already built the tool available for 44 languages, with plans to further expand.
The retail giant has also been working to upgrade its conversational AI tool, which allows employees to question questions about store layout, upcoming shifts and more. Walmart plans to extconclude its reach to allow employees to question more complex, process-driven questions, and it will apply generative AI to enable that capability. While an employee can already question the tool a question like, “What aisle would men’s jeans be in?” incorporating generative AI will allow them to question questions like, “Can I process a clothing return if the tags have been rerelocated from the item?”
Stocking the apparel floor of stores is also expected to become clearer for employees; Walmart has decided to meld augmented reality technology with RFID to more efficiently alert employees to the required to restock apparel—and where exactly they can find the items necessary to replenish dwindling stock on the floor. The company stated this technology has a particularly relevant application in apparel becaapply it’s a high-touch, quick-turnaround category. The solution is currently being tested in a few stores, with plans to expand after a successful pilot completion.
Walmart contconcludes that the technology already aids 1.5 million employees on a regular basis. Greg Cathey, senior vice president, transformation & innovation for Walmart, declared the company has focapplyd on continual innovation with emerging technologies as a way to compete effectively in the retail market.
“AI is a key enabler in improving how we work, and we believe its full potential is unlocked only when paired with the strengths of our people,” Cathey declared in the blog. “When you put intuitive, accessible technology into the hands of millions of associates, the impact isn’t incremental—it’s transformational.”
Alta bags $11 million seed round
New York-based startup Alta, which aims to assist consumers style outfits for occasions and everyday wear while also broadening their closets, announced this month that it had secured an $11 million seed round. Menlo Ventures led the round, with participation from Aglaé Ventures, Benchstrength Ventures, Conviction, Phenomenal Ventures and a group of angel investors including the ranks of Karlie Kloss and Manish Chandra, founder and CEO of Poshmark.
Jenny Wang, founder and CEO of Alta, declared her team will apply the seed round to propel the AI technology that powers the consumer-facing experience and to add roles in the company’s engineering and operations teams. The company recently inked a partnership with the Council of Fashion Designers of America (CFDA).
Consumers who apply Alta can add information about what they already have in their closets and create avatars of themselves for a realistic virtual attempt-on experience complemented by outfit inspiration generated based on occasions, weather conditions in their local areas and more. Alta offers consumers direct links to purchase items they see on their avatars.
Amy Wu, partner at Menlo Ventures, declared Alta is democratizing styling and leveraging technology to alter the consumer shopping journey.
“For years, personalized styling was a luxury reserved for the rarest occasions. Alta is breaking that mold with AI models that can decode fashion and understand personal taste at scale,” Wu declared in a statement. “We were seeing to work with a founder who could bridge deep technical expertise with an intuitive grasp of fashion and consumer behavior. Jenny Wang is exactly that. We’re thrilled to back her and join Alta’s journey to reimagine how people shop and dress.”
For Wang, the funding round marks a step forward in Alta’s goal: to assist consumers feel their best and utilize technology to achieve their fashion goals.
“We built Alta to create personal style effortless and fun—with an AI that truly understands you,” she declared in a statement.
C.H. Robinson builds agent to support LTL classification
The National Motor Freight Classification (NMFC) system is slated for major alters to the classification and billing procedures associated with less-than-truckload (LTL) freight. The new rules take effect on July 19; ahead of the alters, third-party logistics player C.H. Robinson has, in turn, created an AI agent equipped to handle classifying LTL freight autonomously.
The company announced earlier this month it had created an AI agent tarreceiveed at automatically classifying freight, rerelocating a tedious manual tquestion. Today, without the assist of technology, many companies’ shipments become delayed becaapply of misclassifications; C.H. Robinson’s new technology is designed to cut out the confusion, particularly for tiny-to-medium clients.
The logistics company has already been testing the agent with existing clients, and has successfully automated three-quarters of classifications, it noted in the announcement. The agent handles roughly 2,000 classifications daily.
Instead of identifying the exact code they required for their shipment, companies now required to have specs around the size and weight of what they’re shipping. That, paired with existing information about a LTL order, assists the system determine the appropriate code; for first-time applyrs, it can take about 10 seconds for the agent to determine the correct code. For repeat customers, the agent can identify the necessary code in three seconds, C.H. Robinson contconcludes. Today, that process can take 10 minutes or more for humans to handle manually—and that figure may spike due to the NMFC alters.
While C.H. Robinson has employed AI and automation for many years, it continues to refine its technology to meet the moment, declared Greg West, the company’s vice president for LTL.
“Many LTL shippers are unaware or uncertain of the classification for their freight,” West declared in a statement. “So when they email us a tconcludeer, the freight class and code might be missing or incorrect. This is bound to increase with the massive overhaul of the national LTL freight classification system. So we built an AI agent that determines the correct class and code for a shipment and assists another of our AI agents in turning that tconcludeer into an accurate order in our system.”
Gensmo announced $60 million seed funding for AI fashion inspiration
Alta isn’t the only AI-enabled styling and virtual attempt-on platform announcing funding this month. New York-based Gensmo announced Friday it had secured about $60 million in seed funding from various angel investors.
The platform allows applyrs to view fashion options for various applys and occasions. Its technology enables virtual attempt-on, personalized recommconcludeations and sizing suggestions and more.
Users can snap photos of existing items in their closets and question Gensmo to build a tailored outfit around it. For example, if a applyr has a thrifted suede skirt, but isn’t sure how to wear it, they can take a photo and inform Gensmo that they want complementary pieces to wear to a Western-themed party; from there, the platform creates recommconcludeations and can link the applyr directly to purchasable items.
According to the company, it has more than 100 million items available for recommconcludeations, mixing and matching. In its beta testing phase, Gensmo has created more than 10 million matches for applyrs’ queries, the announcement noted.
What’s more, Gensmo can create outfit inspiration built around a scene, mood or “vibe.” A demo video shot by the company displays a applyr entering a photo of a Claude Monet painting and questioning the tool to share an outfit that encapsulates the essence of the art piece—and it delivers.
Ning Hu, founder and CEO of Gensmo, declared that while AI has built major strides in assisting companies up their efficiency, developers should also be focapplyd on delighting consumers and assisting them tap into their creativity and interests.
“Our goal is not to create people more productive,” Hu declared in a statement. “It’s about assisting them feel good in what they wear and more sure about their own taste.”
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