As we approach the vacations, artificial intelligence is taking center stage. Whether that’s a blessing or a curse — well, that relies on how the burgeoning technology is used.
On one hand, Coca-Cola is facing fierce backlash after it used generative AI to reimagine its beloved 1995 “Holidays Are Coming” campaign. On the opposite, some proponents of AI say that the exact same tool can reduce the stress of one in all the most important holiday to-dos: searching for gifts.
John Licato, a pc engineering associate professor and AI researcher on the University of South Florida, recommends using AI to assist you to pick the proper gift for friends or family.
“You possibly can refine the AI’s suggestions by giving feedback, helping it develop into more accurate in offering thoughtful, tailored gift ideas,” Licato said in a news release.
Recent data from Adobe suggests that many internet buyers are already asking AI to assist them pick products. AI referrals to retail sites have increased eightfold since 2023; the software firm expects the trend to select up much more this holiday season.
In truth, a recent survey from Debt.com found that 65% of shoppers said they were willing to spend greater than usual on a present if AI gave them a really perfect advice.
How one can use AI to purchase Christmas presents
By now, most people are accustomed to using Google to do basic product research, probably by pecking in “best” followed by whatever sort of product they’re trying to find. In milliseconds, Google populates pages and pages of results, often topped by several sponsored products.
But AI works just a little in a different way. And never all AI chatbots are created equally. Licato recommends using reputable ones like ChatGPT and Claude, which use advanced language-learning models which are trained with extensive amounts of information and have real-time access to the web.
Many retailers now have their very own on-site AI chatbots. Take Amazon’s shopping-assistant chatbot, Rufus, for instance. Rufus can assist you to seek for products… but only ones on Amazon.com.
In some cases, these retailer-run AI tools won’t be as advanced as ChatGPT, or they might have different goals comparable to only selling you products offered on the location.
Whenever you’ve selected which AI tool you would like to use, tell it just a little bit about your shopping goals and budget.
In line with RetailWire’s holiday shopping forecast, one major perk of using a tool like ChatGPT over an everyday search engine is that AI uses natural language, not only a number of key words. You possibly can describe at length what you’re on the lookout for — even for those who don’t exactly know what that’s yet. You can even feed the chatbot as much information in regards to the person you’re searching for as you wish.
Basic facts like their interests, relation to you, hobbies and more can go a great distance in getting tailored gift ideas (though Licato suggests using only publicly available information on the person if you will have privacy concerns).
After you’ve homed in on the item you wish, you’ll be able to get much more specific recommendations. The chatbot may also assist you to compare prices across retailers if it’s connected to live search engines like google and yahoo. Just be certain the pricing is accurate. Licato recommends asking the chatbot to supply links on to the location so you’ll be able to double check.
When you get the proper gift, all that’s left is deciding whether to inform the recipient that ChatGPT got here up with the thought.
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