It has become a pronounced problem due to the increasing ubiquity of online platforms that provide a means to conduct it. A significant amount of this cyberbullying is conducted by and targets teenagers. It is difficult for teenage students to shut themselves off from the digital world in which the cyberbullying is taking place. Given how entrenched the use of digital apps is by today's youth, and the pronounced consequences of it - including victim self-harm, in some cases - cyberbullying is at least as much of a threat as physical bullying. Additionally, because of the obfuscation caused by the online environment, authorities (such as parents, teachers and law enforcement) may have difficulty determining what has occurred and who the actors participating are.

As this season's fashion weeks wrap up in London, Milan, New York, and Paris, brands are working to produce and sell the designs they've just showcased on runways--and they're starting next season's collections. In the future, it's entirely possible that those designs will blend the prowess of a creative director with the power of generative artificial intelligence (AI), helping to bring clothes and accessories to market faster, selling them more efficiently, and improving the customer experience. By now, you've likely heard of OpenAI's ChatGPT, the AI chatbot that became an overnight sensation and sparked a digital race to build and release competitors. ChatGPT is only one consumer-friendly example of generative AI, a technology comprising algorithms that can be used to create new content, including audio, code, images, text, simulations, and videos. Rather than simply identifying and classifying information, generative AI creates new information by leveraging foundation models, which are deep learning models that can handle multiple complex tasks at the same time.

Vending machines, which allow people to easily purchase items without interacting with a human worker, have been around since the 1st century, when a Greek engineer and mathematician named Hero Alexandria created a machine that accepted a coin before dispensing holy water at a temple, to prevent people from taking more than their share of holy water. Two millennia later, a far greater number and variety of products can be purchased from vending machines, thanks in part to the advent of new technologies including always-on, Internet of Things (IoT) connectivity, advanced physical and digital controls that allow these machines to be placed in a wide variety of settings, and the use of artificial intelligence (AI)-based algorithms that can capture and analyze customer insights, improve stocking efficiency, and deliver greater levels of personalization to customers. The global installed base of connected vending machines reached an estimated 2.4 million units in 2019, according to Berg Insight, a research firm that tracks the installed base of connected vending machines. Connected vending machines are equipped with an always-on Internet connection, which allows data to be sent between machines in the field and management software, enabling real-time payments, monitoring, and remote management of the machines. Advanced feature sets and functionality are projected to drive the market to nearly nine million units by 2024, according to Berg Insight, helped along by the desire of organizations to better serve customers without needing to attract and retain relatively costly human workers.

We all have our own dream watch. A Cartier watch would always be on top of that list to many who love or aspire for luxury. In 2021, 174 years after Cartier opened its first Paris workshop. The Maison's catalog -- An extensive catalog, with over a thousand wristwatches, some with only slight variations between them, can now be searched using an app jointly developed by Google and the Cartier team, using artificial intelligence and machine learning. With the help of Google Cloud, Cartier created an app that can help a sales associate in three seconds or less tell the Cartier watch's name model a customer is looking for.

Artificial intelligence in sales affects how clients buy – and how sales associates need to sell. AI fuels purchasing choices we make every day – from the shows we see and the routes our driver pilots to the next item we order online. Suggestion, location, and association algorithms comprise our behind-the-scene buying influencers – and they perform AI creepy and cool: Disturbing that our devices know and correlate so much about us. Fresh that what it does is essential. "The power of selling is going away from the individual and approaching the machine – machines that can immediately prospect, follow up, present, and propose without human interference," says Victor Antonio, writer of Sales Ex Machina: How Artificial Intelligence is Changing the World of Selling.

This post is the latest in our "Holiday Blitz" series. See the rest of the series here. Seventy-seven percent of millennials say they plan to shop at brick-and-mortar stores this holiday season. One of the primary reasons why is the experience of in-person shopping. The role that sales associates play in motivating in-store purchases can't be understated, as consumers regularly cite personal attention as a reason why they prefer to shop offline versus online.

Search is essential in eCommerce – it is the gateway. Search is how consumers express what they want and if they don't find what they want, they can't buy it. People who choose to search have a far better idea of what they are looking for than those who browse, and are therefore far more likely to make a purchase. This means that understanding the intent of the shopper, however it is worded, is essential to conversion in eCommerce. This is increasingly important with the proliferation of voice and the adoption of Natural Language searching by the general public.

Retail has been one of the industries most impacted by the advancements of artificial intelligence (AI). Shopping is becoming more and more frictionless to the point where customers can simply say "order more garbage bags" and their home virtual assistant can do the rest. Product warehouses are highly automated and one day those purchases will be delivered by an autonomous car or drone. Shoppers can now enter a brick and mortar store, or shopping area, scan a credit card or loyalty card, take what they want off the shelves and walk out without having to checkout at a counter. All of these new advancements are made possible by artificial intelligence.

Adoption of AI-driven intelligent automation in the retail and consumer products industries is projected to leap from 40% of companies today to more than 80% in three years, according to a new study from the IBM Institute for Business Value study, developed in collaboration with the National Retail Federation. Intelligent automation represents a major technological breakthrough that has the potential to not just improve, but to transform the way companies do business. In intelligent automation, artificial intelligence (AI) is infused into automation, enabling machines to learn and generate recommendations and to make autonomous decisions and self-remediate over time. In retail, the highest growth is expected in supply-chain planning (85%). Retailers and brands are initially using intelligent automation to improve efficiency and reduce costs.

I have written many times before about how AI is changing the landscape of marketing. It gives marketers the opportunity to reach more people while delivering personalized, relevant and timely content to them. Particularly interesting, is the use of AI in the retail industry. Many people fear that e-commerce giants threaten the existence of local retailers, but, brick-and-mortar stores aren't dying, they're simply evolving. The use of technology is enhancing customer connectivity and experience at every touchpoint, both online and in-store.