Artificial Intelligence (ai) blog to help eCommerce professionals connect, share ideas and best practices.
“In the first week since its launch, the KanKan AI Retail system created over 13,725 virtual members for CP Lotus and converted almost 4,000 new registered members, representing a 29% conversion rate. The system also connected 5,297 members with CP Lotus on social media, and KanKan’s product recommendation algorithm sent 2,544 personalized coupons with a very strong 71% conversion rate.”
“More than 5 billion people around the world have a mobile phone connection, according to a recent study by GSMA Intelligence. We can’t imagine our lives without mobile phones, which are gradually turning from convenient everyday tools into things like medical devices. It’s not surprising that many companies are developing AI tools for mobile devices.
But there’s a serious shortage of professionals in the AI industry with multi-field expertise. An engineer may be a great mobile software developer but lacks knowledge in machine learning—or conversely, an ML engineer or data scientist may not have experience with mobile software.”
“Yes, you get your infrastructure from a cloud provider. But you also implement agile development practices. You implement DevOps deployment methods. And you use SRE operations processes. The overall approach is often called cloud-native. We all know cloud-native companies, because we use them every day. Netflix. Spotify. Lyft. Airbnb. It’s no accident that cloud-native and disruption go hand-in-hand. Using the power of cloud-native practices, these companies force transformation into industries. And leaves traditional companies with no hopes of catching up.”
“Inside, the store is equipped with a host of state-of-the-art technology. An AI-powered hologram named ‘Olivia’ greets customers to the store, answering questions and directing shoppers with the help of Google’s conversational Dialogflow platform. Customers can virtually try on makeup simply by picking up a connected product at an AR ‘glam station’, while lipsticks and makeup bags can be customized at a dedicated counter.”
“While some companies — most large banks, Ford and GM, Pfizer, and virtually all tech firms — are aggressively adopting artificial intelligence, many are not. Instead they are waiting for the technology to mature and for expertise in AI to become more widely available. They are planning to be “fast followers” — a strategy that has worked with most information technologies.”
https://hbr.org/2018/12/why-companies-that-wait-to-adopt-ai-may-never-catch-up
“AWS Marketplace for Machine Learning
Another important announcement was AWS Marketplace for Machine Learning. Akin to an Appstore for ML, it provides a platform for developers to share and get revenue from their algorithms and makes it easy for organizations to search a library of paid, free and open-source models that can then be deployed in SageMaker. With over 150 trained models in the marketplace already, AWS now becomes, along with Algorithmia, one of the few environments facilitating the transaction of machine learning intellectual property. ”
“The U.S. used to be the scientific centre of the world, he says, but it’s very clear China is going to take over that leadership role. Things take a long time to happen in North America, he said, because grant systems here are so bureaucratic.
“There’s one aspect that makes it fundamentally different and why they’re going to pull into the lead and build an enormous lead that will be very difficult to overcome, and that is nimbleness,” he said.
“They have lots of money and they’re not afraid to spend it.”
To respond to China’s rocketing AI expertise, Shaeffer warns we must be prepared to make targeted investments and do our best to cope with the superpower’s fiscal flexibility.
“That nimbleness means the U.S. will be eclipsed, Canada is eclipsed,” he said.
‘That gap between China and the rest of the world will grow very quickly.'”
“The 233-year-old financial institution is banking on “bots,” specifically robotic process automation (RPA), to improve the efficiency of its operations and to reduce costs. RPA integrates artificial intelligence and is carried out not by physical robots but by software applications. These applications known as web robots or Internet bots are programmed to process automated tasks. In May 2017, the bank announced that over the past 15 months the company has rolled out more than 220 bots developed by Blue Prismfor handling tasks that are often repetitive in nature and normally handled by staff. Examples include “data requests from external auditors” and “funds transfer bots” which help ‘correct formatting and data mistakes in requests for dollar funds transfers.‘”
https://emerj.com/ai-sector-overviews/ai-in-banking-analysis/
“CitiBank has made a strategic investment in Feedzai, a leading global data science enterprise that works in real-time to identify and eradicate fraud in all avenues of commerce including online and in-person banking. Through its continuous and rapid evaluation of large amounts of data, Feedzai can conduct large-scale analyses. Fraudulent or questionable activity is identified and the customer is rapidly alerted. The service also assists payment providers and retailers in monitoring and protecting financial activity in connection with their companies.”
AI-Driven Fraud Protection Company Feedzai Set to Double Atlanta Workforce
“Feedzai, a Silicon Valley-based fraud detection company, plans to double its operations in Atlanta by the end of the year. The company currently has 30 employees in the city, but says that will nearly double to 60 by the start of 2019.
According to company representatives, it’s part of their larger growth strategy to reach 400 employees globally. Feedzai has an additional U.S. office in New York City, as well as an international presence in London, Portugal and Hong Kong.”
