Retail Chatbots Show the Power of Artificial Intelligence, Just in Time for the Holidays

The Mall of America worked with IBM to create a chatbot guide for the nation's largest shopping center. At the Mall of America in a suburb just south of Minneapolis, shoppers walk 1.15 miles just to make their way around a single level of the sprawling shopping destination visited by 40 million people every year. And with multiple floors in total comprising around 5.6 million square feet of total building area--enough to fit nine Yankee Stadiums--some might find it handy to have a digital guide for navigating the nation's largest shopping center. The mall--call MoA by the locals--has partnered with IBM to integrate the company's Watson technology to create a "mobile concierge" that helps shoppers make their way around. Using Watson's conversational API, a holiday-themed chatbot--fittingly named "E.L.F." (short for Experience List Formulator)--helps guests plan a personalized shopping experience based on whatever they're looking for.