Amazon Has Developed an AI Fashion Designer

Amazon isn't synonymous with high fashion yet, but the company may be poised to lead the way when it comes to replacing stylists and designers with ever-so-chic AI algorithms. Researchers at the e-commerce juggernaut are currently working on several machine-learning systems that could help provide an edge when it comes to spotting, reacting to, and perhaps even shaping the latest fashion trends. The effort points to ways in which Amazon and other companies could try to improve the tracking of trends in other areas of retail--making recommendations based on products popping up in social-media posts, for instance. And it could help the company expand its clothing business or even dominate the area. "There's been a whole move from companies like Amazon trying to understand how fashion develops in the world," says Kavita Bala, a professor at Cornell University who took part in a workshop on machine learning and fashion organized by Amazon last week.