The quality of chatbots, virtual agents and intelligent assistants directly corresponds to the size and relevance of the datasets that inform their responses. So goes the common wisdom that is oft repeated as brands make investments in service development platforms and infrastructure to support so-called Conversational AI. Yet, with its acquisition of Machine Learning and Natural Language Processing specialist Aspectiva, Walmart is out to prove that not all data is created equal, especially in the heat of developing Shoppers’ Assistants.

In 2017 the giant retailer launched an incubator called Store N° 8 to make strategic investments in technologies that will keep it competitive with other gargantuan retailers and e-retailers, especially Amazon. Aspectiva joins companies like Spatial& (Immersive Shopping), JetBlack (text-to-purchase) and several stealth companies that will apply all the buzzwords – Virtual Reality, Conversational Commerce, Artificial Intelligence – to bring shopping into the 21st Century.

True to form, retailers approach new technologies pragmatically and with a view on cost containment. Aspectiva is a case in point because it exemplifies the sort of “less-is-more” approach that will surface great value from the rich database of content from review sites. It employs the data from multiple users to organize “Product Pages” that accelerate the selection process. It is also capable of delivering product recommendations that are tailored to each shopper personally based on evaluation of their expressed and imputed intents. Thus it’s all about accelerating the journey from shopping to buying.

Quality Versus Quantity

Aspectiva’s approach validates a finding that was recently suggested to us by the product development and marketing team at Luminoso, a Machine Learning specialist that spun out of MIT Media Lab. During a recent briefing, Ying Chen, Chief Product Officer, noted that the transcripts of product reviews and Voice of the Customer surveys served as rich sources of insights that are ripe to be employed by customer care, marketing, product development and contact center operations. Walmart is bound to use Aspectiva’s services to enable their customers to use Machine Learning and Natural Language Understanding on their own behalf. They’ll benefit from search results that enable rapid comparison of salient product features and functions and, then, they will benefit from highly personalized recommendations, informed by AI-powered insights.

Both Luminoso and Aspectiva illustrate the real-world, practical value of Conversational AI and reflect both the maturity and practicality of integrating key elements to accelerate business processes with impact on efficiency and the search-to-checkout to enhance the topline.

Categories: Conversational Intelligence, Intelligent Assistants, Mobile + Location, Articles