Google has been seeking facial scans of people with'darker skin' as part of its efforts to improve the company's facial scan software. The company has sent out teams of temp workers, hired through the staffing agency Randstad, to scan people's faces in exchange for $5 gift cards. Workers for the program said they were directed to target homeless people and college students. Facial recognition software has been notoriously unreliable for people with dark skin, something Google wanted to improve for the upcoming launch of the Pixel 4 (pictured above). The workers were encouraged to conceal the fact that they were collecting facial data and instead asked if people would be interested in playing a'selfie game' using specially equipped smart phones.

The retail industry is undergoing a sea change so massive that many industry insiders have termed it the "retail apocalypse." In a sign of this industry upheaval, in 2018 major retailers closed 5,524 stores in the U.S. and 1,432 stores in the U.K., according to figures compiled by the Coresight Research, a firm that studies the retail industry.1 In some good news for the industry, Coresight predicts that 2019 "will not be the year of retail apocalypse or even decline. Instead, it will be a year of reinvention -- for the retail sector as a whole and for physical stores in particular."2 This predicted reinvention of the industry stems in part from the use of sophisticated technology, specifically artificial intelligence.

This was the subject tackled by David Newberry, Chief Customer Officer from Attraqt, on Wednesday 25th September at London's Ecommerce Expo. "Recommendations, personalisation, tailored emails and web pages – these are all put place by forward thinking retailers to orchestrate shopping experiences that keep customers happy and loyal," Newberry told a packed conference session at Kensington Olympia. "At the heart of this must be the ability to deliver relevancy and to drive inspiration." Newberry (pictured left) revealed what typically makes up the'data framework for an exceptional shopping experience' – namely user profiles, a customer's purchase history, user behaviour and user preference. He said these data sets can be boosted with third party data covering, for example, geo-location and recent or expected weather.

Mistrust in artificial intelligence (AI) is a curious thing; it's truly indicative of human nature. With machine learning (ML) activated, if a computer makes a mistake, it will never make that mistake again, yet it is often perceived as a broken tool. Without said intervention, humans can make the same mistake innumerable times, either without coming under scrutiny or before being replaced by a different human with the same ingrained deficiencies. One error can be called a fault in the system, yet the financial and logistical implications that numerous "one-time errors" can have on a retail operation are huge. Larger chains and organizations may need to make tens of millions of decisions each day regarding stock, price points, product placements and even marketing activities.

AI and machine learning are changing global consumption habits, and companies are playing catch-up. Good salespersonship is a species of street smarts. It's about quickly sizing up your customers and pitching your wares in terms that reverberate with their unspoken needs and desires. As AI and machine learning increasingly intersect with e-commerce, these priceless human skills are finding algorithmic analogues – not just at point of sale, but throughout the customer journey. The results will be familiar to online shoppers everywhere.

Over the years, I've studied retail innovation and also retail stagnation. Among the white hot trends propelling retail startups and giving legacy brands hope are artificial intelligence (AI), computer vision, Internet of Things (IoT), connected sensors and good old fashioned ingenuity. My friend Macy Bayern of TechRepublic recently wrote about the role AI is specifically playing in retail innovation. Her resulting article features insights from industry experts and innovators. Brick and mortar stores are closing left and right, but artificial intelligence may be able to keep them alive.

As an omnichannel retailer, you know that the clock starts on order delivery as soon as a consumer clicks the "Buy" button. You must be able to quickly, intelligently, and economically locate the best way to fulfill every order to meet consumer demand. Leading retailers are increasingly using artificial intelligence (AI) to achieve this goal. AI can power your supply chain to rapidly assess your fulfillment options, inventory availability, local demand, delivery distance, and more to uncover the right delivery solution. Read RIS News' report, sponsored by Radial, to learn how AI enables you to: Get the report now to set your supply chain apart from your competitors, meet constantly evolving consumer demand, and boost revenues.

Digital versions of luxury clothing are appearing in apps and video games as brands test consumer appetite for virtual fashion. Drest, a gaming app unveiled by former Porter editor Lucy Yeomans on Monday, invites users to dress photo-realistic avatars in styling challenges, then buy physical versions of those garments on Farfetch. The 75-person startup recruited 100 brands, including Gucci, Prada, Stella McCartney, Valentino and Burberry. Six Italian luxury brands signed up within half an hour of her pitching them, Yeomans says. A waitlist for early access to Drest opens today; the full launch is slated for 2020. Louis Vuitton is also dipping its toes into digital fashion waters.

First, we have improved the accuracy our text recognition feature. Second, Amazon Textract now more accurately corrects the rotation of documents and isolates documents from their backgrounds, for more accurate text extraction. These benefits apply to many types of documents, but they are especially pronounced for documents with sparse text, nonstandard paper sizes, small deformations in the paper such as bent corners, extreme or unusual backgrounds surrounding the document, and even for documents that are partially covered. Finally, we have rescaled the confidence scores of our text detection feature to make them better aligned to the underlying accuracy of our models.

If you've had great customer service at a store recently, chances are a machine had a role in the transaction. Artificial intelligence (AI) is transforming online and in-store shopping by customizing recommendations, automating delivery, and increasing efficiency. Artificial intelligence uses algorithms to carry out actions based on historical data, events, and statistics. Tools can forecast customer demand and adjust inventory orders to keep up with sales. Programs assist customers and offer the level of service they demand.