Exclusive Preview: Navigating the AI Revolution in eCommerce: Insights from Max Bennett

Elizabeth Robillard (ER):

Welcome, Max. Thanks so much for joining me today. Let's talk a little bit about your keynote at eTail Palm Springs. We have Max Bennett here with Alby. Max, tell me a little bit about Alby and your role as CEO and Co-founder.

Max Bennett (MB):

Thank you for inviting me. At Alby, we're building a platform to make it as easy as possible for retailers and brands to experiment with, launch, and observe different generative AI solutions with their customers. We've spent over a year working with several very large brands and retailers, testing these things with consumers. We don't really know what the right user experience is yet, and what works for some brands and retailers doesn't work for others. So, it's essential to have a platform where you can test, take a small percentage of your audience, try a certain use case, try different prompts, try different fine-tunings, and see what they actually respond to. We're building a platform to make it really easy for brands to launch their own generative AI solutions for their customers. Quick background on me, I previously was the co-founder and chief product officer of Bluecore, and I do some AI neuroscience research and recently wrote a book about the evolution of the brain.

ER:

We're eager to hear about your upcoming keynote at eTail Palm Springs. You're associated with Alby. Could you share more about the company and your role there?

MB:

Absolutely. Alby is focused on developing a platform that simplifies the process for retailers and brands to test, launch, and monitor various generative AI solutions with their customer base. My role as CEO and Co-founder involves overseeing this vision, ensuring we provide a seamless experience for our clients. We've dedicated over a year to collaborating with major brands and retailers, experimenting directly with consumers to uncover effective user experiences. Our findings indicate a diverse range of outcomes, emphasizing the need for a tailored approach to AI in retail.

ER:

We are super excited that you're going to be giving a keynote at the show. Generative AI is right on the top of everyone's heads at the moment. But, I want to talk a little bit about conversational AI and how it's going to transform e-commerce forever, which is the topic of your session. Give us a little bit of a sneak peek into what you're going to be talking about during your keynote.

MB:

What's so interesting is there's a whole spectrum of points of view on how conversational AI, which broadly just means a human, a consumer, interacting with an AI in a turn-taking fashion with language, is going to transform e-commerce. Conversational AI has existed for decades. What's different is the degree with which the AI can answer questions and be thoughtful and smart. There are people that think websites are going to go away and chatbots are the universal interface of everything.

I feel very confident that the answer lies in between, which makes it a much more interesting era to live through. It requires good thinking on behalf of both technology companies and brands and retailers to think through what are the ways in which this can actually be helpful without being distracting. Websites are not going to go away. Websites are still going to be here in a hundred years because humans are very visual and they like browsing around. But there are going to be several ways in which conversational AI is going to change what the website is. There's going to be completely new types of experiences added to the website that are going to change conversion rates for the better and make the customer experience all the more magical. Conversational AI can put information at the fingertips of consumers exactly when they need it.

The other key thing is there's a whole new medium by which brands and retailers can build relationships with consumers, which is very channel agnostic in the sense that it's not going to be just two-way dialogue via SMS, but it's going to be two-way dialogue via any channel that the consumer wants. But the AI, the system on the other side of that dialogue, is going to be consistent and it's going to be someone that can build an action that represents the brand and can build a relationship with that consumer in a completely novel way.

ER:

That sounds fascinating. And you mentioned you've written a book and have a background with Bluecore. Could you expand on that?

MB:

Yes, my journey before Alby involved co-founding Bluecore, where I served as the Chief Product Officer. My experiences there, combined with my interest in AI and neuroscience research, culminated in writing a book about the evolution of the brain, aiming to bridge the gap between neuroscience and AI applications in the real world.

ER:

Your insights into generative AI are highly anticipated at eTail. Can you give us a preview of what your keynote will cover?

MB:

The keynote will delve into the transformative potential of conversational AI in e-commerce, highlighting its ability to offer personalized, turn-taking interactions between consumers and AI. We'll explore the successes and challenges faced in creating these experiences, emphasizing the importance of experimentation to discover what truly resonates with customers. The goal is to demystify the application of generative AI, providing actionable insights for brands looking to innovate in this space.

ER:

With the buzz around ChatGPT and conversational AI, how do you differentiate between the two?

MB:

Conversational AI encompasses a broad spectrum of technologies that enable dialogue between humans and machines, a concept that has been around for decades. ChatGPT represents a significant advancement in this field, utilizing large-scale transformer models trained on extensive datasets to generate more nuanced and coherent responses. However, it's just one example of the broader capabilities within conversational AI, highlighting the ongoing evolution of these technologies.

ER:

Your book, "A Brief History of Intelligence," seems to offer a unique perspective on AI. How does it relate to e-commerce?

MB:

The book investigates the unique capabilities of human intelligence compared to AI, particularly focusing on areas where AI struggles to replicate human-like understanding and adaptability. This exploration is crucial for e-commerce, as it highlights the limitations and potential of AI in creating genuinely personalized and efficient shopping experiences. Understanding these dynamics can help retailers better navigate the integration of AI into their strategies.

ER:

Looking ahead, what emerging AI trends should retailers be aware of?

MB:

Retailers should keep an eye on multimodality in AI, where models can process and understand multiple types of data, such as text and images. This advancement opens up new possibilities for interactive shopping experiences. Additionally, improvements in AI's reasoning capabilities could significantly reduce errors and enhance reliability, making AI more suitable for direct customer interactions. Lastly, the pursuit of continual learning in AI, where models can learn from new information without extensive retraining, could revolutionize how AI adapts to changing consumer behaviors and preferences.

ER:

As we look forward to eTail Palm Springs, is there anything specific you hope to convey to the eTail community about Alby?

MB:

I aim to share the practical insights and learnings from our extensive work with generative AI in retail settings. It's not just about showcasing successes but also about discussing the challenges and unexpected outcomes we've encountered. The goal is to equip the eTail community with a deeper understanding of how to effectively leverage AI, avoiding common pitfalls and embracing strategies that genuinely enhance the customer experience and operational efficiency.

ER:

Max, your expertise and experiences are invaluable to our community. We're looking forward to your contributions at eTail. Thank you for sharing your thoughts with us today.

MB:

It's been my pleasure. Thank you for having me, and I look forward to engaging with everyone at eTail Palm Springs.