Skip to main content

Google Planning to Add Online Shopping Features to Generative AI

By

Google is bringing generative AI technology to shopping, aiming to get a jump on e-commerce sites like Amazon.com.

The Alphabet-owned company announced features Wednesday aimed at helping people understand how apparel will fit on them, no matter their body size, and added capabilities for finding products using its search and image-recognition technology. Additionally, Google introduced new ways to research travel destinations and map routes using generative AI — technology that can craft text, images or even video from simple prompts.

“We want to make Google the place for consumers to come shop, as well as the place for merchants to connect with consumers,” Maria Renz, Google's vice president of commerce, said in an interview ahead of the announcement. “We've always been committed to an open ecosystem and a healthy web, and this is one way where we're bringing this technology to bear across merchants.”

Google is the world's dominant search engine, but 46 percent of respondents in a survey of US shoppers conducted last year said they still started their product searches and research on Amazon, according to the research firm CivicScience. TikTok, too, is making inroads, CivicScience's research found — 18 percent of Gen Z online shoppers turn to the platform first. Google is taking note, with some of its new, AI-powered shopping exploration features aimed at capturing younger audiences.

A new virtual “try-on” feature, launching on Wednesday, will let people see how clothes fit across a range of body types, from XXS to 4XL sizes. Apparel will be overlaid on top of images of diverse models that the company photographed while developing the capability.

Google said it was able to launch such a service because of a new image-based AI model that it developed internally, and the company is releasing a new research paper detailing its work alongside the announcement. The depictions of the clothing take into consideration the way fabric stretches and winkles as it's worn to produce lifelike images. The try-on feature will start with women's tops, in partnership with retailers like Anthropologie and Everlane, followed by men's clothing later.

The company also said it will begin pulling in more sources of information as people test out its new “search generative experience” — a service that Google first announced at its I/O developers conference last month. For now, that offering is only available through the company's experimental Search Labs product.

Google earlier announced that it was using a variety of web-based sources to display AI-generated information on, say, the best hotel for families at a particular vacation destination or the best waterproof Bluetooth speaker. Now it's also adding in user reviews for its AI model to draw on as well. 

The company is rolling out new additions to existing features on Google Maps, too. Immersive view, which uses AI to show people 3D tours of landmarks, is rolling out to four new cities: Amsterdam and Dublin, as well as Florence and Venice in Italy. Google is expanding its collection of landmarks available on immersive view to more than 500 — on both the iOS and Android apps — adding in such destinations as the Sydney Harbour Bridge and the Prague Castle.

Glanceable directions, meanwhile, will let people see turn-by-turn directions for walking, cycling and driving modes from their phone lock screens. Google said people will also be able to see updated ETAs as they follow their routes in real time. That feature is rolling out globally in June.

Some AI features on Google Lens — the image-recognition app that uses a phone camera to identify objects and text — have been around for a while, like discovering the name of a local dish by snapping a photo of it while traveling. But on Wednesday, Google said it is launching the ability for users to search for skin conditions using the app.

After a user takes a photo of a rash or a skin bump, Lens will find visual matches for the image that could help inform people's searches, the company said. The feature is meant to be a starting point for research, not certified medical advice, Google said.

© 2023 Bloomberg LP 
 

Apple unveiled its first mixed reality headset, the Apple Vision Pro, at its annual developer conference, along with new Mac models and upcoming software updates. We discuss all the most important announcements made by the company at WWDC 2023 on Orbital, the Gadgets 360 podcast. Orbital is available on Spotify, Gaana, JioSaavn, Google Podcasts, Apple Podcasts, Amazon Music and wherever you get your podcasts.
Affiliate links may be automatically generated - see our ethics statement for details.

Adblock test (Why?)



from NDTV News- Special https://ift.tt/BCyFQ3w https://ift.tt/S41u3ca
via IFTTT
Labels:

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

North Korea Says It Tested New Strategic Cruise Missile

By
North Korea test-fired a new generation of strategic cruise missile on Wednesday. (Representational) Seoul: North Korea fired several cruise missiles towards the Yellow Sea on Wednesday, Seoul's military said, the latest in a series of tension-raising moves by the nuclear-armed state. Hours later, North Korea appeared to confirm the firing, saying it had carried out its first test of a new generation of strategic cruise missiles it is developing, the Pulhwasal-3-31. Pyongyang has accelerated weapons testing in the new year, including tests of what it called an "underwater nuclear weapon system" and a solid-fuelled hypersonic ballistic missile. "Our military detected several cruise missiles launched by North Korea towards the Yellow Sea at around 7:00 am today," the South Korean Joint Chiefs of Staff said in a statement. Unlike their ballistic counterparts, the testing of cruise missiles is not banned under current UN sanctions against Pyongyang. Cruise...
Post a Comment
Read more

18-Year-Old Killed By Friends Over Mobile Game Password In Bengal: Cops

By
According to cops, accused "friends" attempted to burn the victim after killing him. (Representational) Kolkata: An argument over sharing the password of an online mobile game allegedly led to the murder of a teenage boy by four of his friends in West Bengal's Murshidabad district, a senior police officer said. The body of 18-year-old Papai Das, who had been missing since January 8, was discovered near Nishindra Ghat of the feeder canal in Farakka on Monday, police said. Papai, a class 10 student, was reportedly killed by his four "close" friends after a disagreement over sharing the password for a mobile online game. The accused individuals have been arrested, police added. "These five individuals used to play online games at one of the quarters of the Farakka Barrage. The victim went out on the evening of January 8 and never returned. On January 9, the family lodged a police complaint. "Based on preliminary investigations, we discovered that...
Post a Comment
Read more

"Jaiswal Has Run Ahead Of Gill": Ex-India Star's Massive T20 WC Verdict

By
Former India opener Aakash Chopra has suggested that Yashasvi Jaiswal is slightly ahead of Shubman Gill in the pecking order as captain Rohit Sharma's partner at the top in T20Is. Since making his debut last year, Jaiswal has been in stunning form in the shortest format of the game. Gill's form, on the other hand, has dipped since the ODI World Cup last year in India. With the T20 World Cup scheduled to be held later this year, Chopra feels Jaiswal will open the innings with Rohit during the tournament. "It's clear that Yashasvi Jaiswal has run ahead of Shubman Gill. Yashasvi is ahead in the two-horse race, Gill is lagging slightly behind. Gill was played in the first match, dropped in the second, and wasn't played in the third as well," Chopra said on his YouTube channel. Jaiswal helped India beat Afghanistan in the second T20I earlier this week, scoring a quickfire fifty. Considering his recent form across formats, Chopra emphasised that Jaiswal has ...
Post a Comment
Read more