Fashion in 2018 07. AI Gets Real

In our view, 2018 will be the year leading innovators begin to reveal -- and revel in -- the possibilities offered by Artificial Intelligence (AI) across all parts of the fashion value chain. Over the past couple of years, the potential of AI -- computer systems able to perform tasks normally requiring human intelligence -- has expanded considerably as a result of increasingly large and diverse data sets, advancement in key algorithms, and unprecedented levels of mathematical computing power. Although fashion has not thus far been a leader in this sphere, we expect to see fashion companies on the digital frontier demonstrate this potential as they start to deploy breakthrough AI innovations. Pioneers in this field will realise palpable returns from these efforts and demonstrate the potential advantages for companies that successfully marry creativity and AI. Many fashion executives regard AI as too mechanical to capture the creative core of fashion, and so are uncertain of what exactly it can do for them.