Byte-Sized AI is a bi-weekly column that covers all things artificial intelligence —from startup funding , to newly inked partnerships, to just-launched, AI-powered capabilities from major retailers, software providers and supply chain players.
Walmart shares latest employee AI upgrades
In a corporate blog post this week, Walmart shared that it has made some upgrades to AI-based technologies used to help its employees.
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One of the upgrades it unveiled is in-store translation services, which employees and customers can use to communicate more effectively when questions arise. For instance, if a customer who is a native Spanish speaker approaches an employee who does not speak Spanish, that employee can use text-to-text or speech-to-speech capabilities to answer a shopper’s question in real time, with less friction. According to Walmart, it has already made the tool available for 44 languages, with plans to further expand.
The retail giant has also been working to upgrade its conversational AI tool, which allows employees to ask questions about store layout, upcoming shifts and more. Walmart plans to extend its reach to allow employees to ask more complex, process-driven questions, and it will use generative AI to enable that capability. While an employee can already ask the tool a question like, “What aisle would men’s jeans be in?” incorporating generative AI will allow them to ask questions like, “Can I process a clothing return if the tags have been removed from the item?”
Stocking the apparel floor of stores is also expected to become easier for employees; Walmart has decided to meld augmented reality technology with RFID to more efficiently alert employees to the need to restock apparel—and where exactly they can find the items necessary to replenish dwindling stock on the floor. The company stated this technology has a particularly relevant application in apparel because it’s a high-touch, fast-turnaround category. The solution is currently being tested in a few stores, with plans to expand after a successful pilot completion.
Walmart contends that the technology already aids 1.5 million employees on a regular basis. Greg Cathey, senior vice president, transformation & innovation for Walmart, said the company has focused on continual innovation with emerging technologies as a way to compete effectively in the retail market.
“AI is a key enabler in improving how we work, and we believe its full potential is unlocked only when paired with the strengths of our people,” Cathey said in the blog. “When you put intuitive, accessible technology into the hands of millions of associates, the impact isn’t incremental—it’s transformational.”
Alta bags $11 million seed round
New York-based startup Alta , which aims to help consumers style outfits for occasions and everyday wear while also broadening their closets, announced this month that it had secured an $11 million seed round. Menlo Ventures led the round, with participation from Aglaé Ventures, Benchstrength Ventures, Conviction, Phenomenal Ventures and a group of angel investors including the ranks of Karlie Kloss and Manish Chandra, founder and CEO of Poshmark.
Jenny Wang, founder and CEO of Alta, said her team will use the seed round to propel the AI technology that powers the consumer-facing experience and to add roles in the company’s engineering and operations teams. The company recently inked a partnership with the Council of Fashion Designers of America ( CFDA ).
Consumers who use Alta can add information about what they already have in their closets and create avatars of themselves for a realistic virtual try-on experience complemented by outfit inspiration generated based on occasions, weather conditions in their local areas and more. Alta offers consumers direct links to purchase items they see on their avatars.
Amy Wu, partner at Menlo Ventures, said Alta is democratizing styling and leveraging technology to change the consumer shopping journey.
“For years, personalized styling was a luxury reserved for the rarest occasions. Alta is breaking that mold with AI models that can decode fashion and understand personal taste at scale,” Wu said in a statement. “We were looking to work with a founder who could bridge deep technical expertise with an intuitive grasp of fashion and consumer behavior. Jenny Wang is exactly that. We’re thrilled to back her and join Alta’s journey to reimagine how people shop and dress.”
For Wang, the funding round marks a step forward in Alta’s goal: to help consumers feel their best and utilize technology to achieve their fashion goals.
“We built Alta to make personal style effortless and fun—with an AI that truly understands you,” she said in a statement.
C.H. Robinson builds agent to support LTL classification
The National Motor Freight Classification (NMFC) system is slated for major changes to the classification and billing procedures associated with less-than-truckload ( LTL ) freight. The new rules take effect on July 19; ahead of the changes, third-party logistics player C.H. Robinson has, in turn, created an AI agent equipped to handle classifying LTL freight autonomously.
The company announced earlier this month it had created an AI agent targeted at automatically classifying freight, removing a tedious manual task. Today, without the help of technology, many companies’ shipments become delayed because of misclassifications; C.H. Robinson’s new technology is designed to cut out the confusion, particularly for small-to-medium clients.
The logistics company has already been testing the agent with existing clients, and has successfully automated three-quarters of classifications, it noted in the announcement. The agent handles roughly 2,000 classifications daily.
Instead of identifying the exact code they need for their shipment, companies now need to have specs around the size and weight of what they’re shipping. That, paired with existing information about a LTL order, helps the system determine the appropriate code; for first-time users, it can take about 10 seconds for the agent to determine the correct code. For repeat customers, the agent can identify the necessary code in three seconds, C.H. Robinson contends. Today, that process can take 10 minutes or more for humans to handle manually—and that figure may spike due to the NMFC changes.
While C.H. Robinson has employed AI and automation for many years, it continues to refine its technology to meet the moment, said Greg West, the company’s vice president for LTL.
“Many LTL shippers are unaware or uncertain of the classification for their freight,” West said in a statement. “So when they email us a tender, the freight class and code might be missing or incorrect. This is bound to increase with the massive overhaul of the national LTL freight classification system. So we built an AI agent that determines the correct class and code for a shipment and assists another of our AI agents in turning that tender into an accurate order in our system.”
Gensmo announced $60 million seed funding for AI fashion inspiration
Alta isn’t the only AI-enabled styling and virtual try-on platform announcing funding this month. New York-based Gensmo announced Friday it had secured about $60 million in seed funding from various angel investors.
The platform allows users to view fashion options for various uses and occasions. Its technology enables virtual try-on, personalized recommendations and sizing suggestions and more.
Users can snap photos of existing items in their closets and ask Gensmo to build a tailored outfit around it. For example, if a user has a thrifted suede skirt, but isn’t sure how to wear it, they can take a photo and tell Gensmo that they want complementary pieces to wear to a Western-themed party; from there, the platform makes recommendations and can link the user directly to purchasable items.
According to the company, it has more than 100 million items available for recommendations, mixing and matching. In its beta testing phase, Gensmo has created more than 10 million matches for users’ queries, the announcement noted.
What’s more, Gensmo can create outfit inspiration built around a scene, mood or “vibe.” A demo video shot by the company shows a user entering a photo of a Claude Monet painting and asking the tool to share an outfit that encapsulates the essence of the art piece—and it delivers.
Ning Hu, founder and CEO of Gensmo, said that while AI has made major strides in helping companies up their efficiency, developers should also be focused on delighting consumers and helping them tap into their creativity and interests.
“Our goal is not to make people more productive,” Hu said in a statement. “It’s about helping them feel good in what they wear and more sure about their own taste.”
