Insider

AI era is coming, get boomed or get doomed.

Mar 12, 2024

Your bi-weekly e-commerce dose drops here - March. 1 - 13, 2024

Retailers are adopting AI widely, most commonly to improve customer engagement and satisfaction. Walmart: The retail giant employs AI to forecast fluctuations in demand across its extensive network of stores. Sephora's Beauty Insider program integrates AI-powered chatbots to provide personalized beauty consultations via its "Beauty IQ" tool. Zara engaging all facets of its business operations, the company integrates just-in-time inventory management principles with AI and real-time data. Amazon leverages AI to analyze billions of data points, encompassing past purchases, browsing history, and even social media engagement, to deliver product recommendations with remarkable precision.

In this digest, you can find

Latest AI-related news summaries
How do retailers embrace AI tools

Many discussions have revolved around Sora, the text-to-video generative AI owned by OpenAI. As the AI-generated video clips they've released approach the quality of Hollywood productions, interest has surged. Three weeks after the video was uploaded onto YouTube, it garnered over 2 million views and sparked numerous discussions. Additionally, the Chinese e-commerce giant Alibaba recently published a paper on an intriguing new AI video generator they've developed called EMO. This system, named EMO, excels at transforming still AI-generated images from OpenAI of faces into convincing actors and captivating singers. Notably, Alibaba also announced that Alibaba Cloud is reducing prices on core cloud products by up to 55% to foster AI growth in China, making cloud capabilities more accessible in the AI era.

Last but not least, Adobe has launched a new mobile app, Adobe Express, bringing Firefly generative AI features to iOS and Android devices. Users can create social media posts, posters, and banners with access to Photoshop and Illustrator files. The beta version offers free use of premium features, but Firefly AI requires separate credits. The app supports collaborative workflows and cloud-based processing for AI features. It's available for free in beta on the Google Play Store for Android, while iOS users need to sign up. Projects from the existing app will seamlessly migrate when the new app leaves beta.

What’s the next step?
Do we need to worry about the job replacement?

The debate on whether we are competing against or alongside machines has gained prominence as AI and digital advancements begin to overhaul various industries. These changes lead to the obsolescence of certain roles and the emergence of new ones, challenging both employees and businesses to evolve with the ever-changing work environment. Innovations in AI, exemplified by technologies such as ChatGPT and Gemini, unveil fresh prospects and underscore the urgent need for specialized skills to navigate the future of work.

List of AI tools adoption rate across industries

Across various industries, AI adoption rates show significant diversity, with sectors like financial services, telecommunications, healthcare, and retail leading in embracing AI technologies. According to IBM's Global AI Adoption Index 2023, 42% of IT professionals in large organizations have reported active deployment of AI, with financial services and telecommunications industries being the most active in AI deployment. The study also highlighted a significant interest in generative AI, with 38% of enterprises actively implementing it.

Industry	AI Adoption Rate (%)	Leading Countries in AI Use	Key AI Use Cases	Projected Market Value or Growth
Financial Services	50	India, UAE, Singapore, China	Product Paradigm, personalized financial advice, and automated investments	N/A
High tech	37	India, UAE, Singapore, China	Risk management, service ops	N/A
Retail	31	N/A	Customer service, hyper-personalization,	$20.05 billion by 2026
Healthcare	15	N/A	Internal operations and patient care.	N/A

However, while there's increasing discussion around AI's implementation in tech firms, it's premature to suggest that we're already witnessing a wave of AI-induced layoffs. Despite there's been chatter about substituting workers with robots, there hasn't been substantial evidence to support this claim.

According to Fabian Stephany, a professor who lectures about AI at the Oxford Internet Institute, "Fighting against robots is a nice cover story," he said. "But if you have a closer look, it's often old school, simple economic dynamics like outsourcing or lead management cutting costs to increase salaries in other places."

Indeed, there is no evidence to suggest that AI can entirely replace human labor at this point. On a positive note, if the prompt pertains to a new programming language, the learning barrier is likely much lower, and mastering it could be feasible for all. In the age of expanding artificial intelligence, McKinsey highlights the transformative influence of generative AI on the workforce, particularly affecting highly educated professionals. While it promises enhanced productivity and avenues for growth, it also raises apprehensions about potential job displacement. To address this challenge, we recommend that everyone focuses on honing essential skills:

Analytical and creative thinking
Leadership
A commitment to lifelong learning.
Interpersonal skills
Start with productivity enhancement with AI tools

Generative AI lacks contextual understanding and ethical discernment. Overcoming AI-related challenges necessitates both corporate training initiatives and individual self-enhancement efforts. Essential human-centered skills such as adaptability, creativity, and social influence are indispensable, as they cannot be easily replicated by generative AI.

If you ever wondered, how to improve your creative operations, dipp is ready for you.