How Artificial Intelligence is Enhancing Online Shopping

Disruptive technology like artificial intelligence (AI) is definitely leaving an indelible mark amid a COVID-19 pandemic where social distancing measures are forcing more reliance on tech. The same can be said in the retail sector and as more consumers head online to do their shopping the retail industry is deploying AI to enhance the experience. "Since the coronavirus outbreak, online retailers like Wayfair, Etsy Inc. and Pinterest Inc. are ratcheting up efforts to leverage data from a surge in e-commerce to get better at helping customers find what they are looking for--even when they don't know what that is," a Wall Street Journal article noted. "To do that, these Web-only stores are supercharging search-and-recommendation engines by feeding data into sophisticated algorithms, building predictive models with a level of accuracy unimaginable just a few years ago." "Not all of the capabilities are new--algorithms have been around for decades," the article added.