Tag: ibm watson

Macy’s has partnered with IBM Watson to enhance consumer shopping experience.

An AI mobile shopping assistant tool has been launched by Macy’s at 10 of its stores nationwide. The famous and popular American department store chain developed its shopping assistant called “Macy’s on Call” with IBM Watson. The mobile companion is a cognitive mobile web tool designed to help shoppers as they navigate through Macy’s stores.

Customers can use their smartphone assistant to answer their questions.

This is the pilot stage for Macy’s mobile shopping assistant. The mobile tool, which was created in partnership with IMB Watson through intelligent engagement platform Satisfi, will be tested throughout the pilot stage at the 10 stores.

Via the mobile browser on the consumer’s personal device, they can ask questions related to the Macy’s store. For instance, a mobile customer could ask where a particular brand, department or service is located in the participating store. The assistant, which uses artificial intelligence (AI) essentially acts like a sales associate, answering their questions. It uses natural language and provides feedback within a matter of seconds.

A Spanish language feature will eventually be added to broaden its user base.

The mobile shopping assistant is part of Macy’s strategy to reinvent its business and improve sales.

Macy’s Group Vice President of Digital Media Strategy Serena Potter told the Associated Press that “We want to improve the shopping experience. We want the customers to shop at Macy’s and come back.”

The goal of the retail giant is to boost sales while freeing up employees so they can cater to more complicated customer requests.

According to the vice president of IBM Watson, Stephen Gold, once trained, the technology can register if customers become frustrated based on their answers and it can alert a sales associate. This technology is similar to AI the company is working on with other brands like North Face and 1-800 Flowers. In these cases, however, the AI tech answers questions on their websites.

Macy’s is working hard to improve its sales, which have plummeted. The company has cut its full-year profit and revenue outlook for the year and has slashed thousands of jobs. Implementing its new mobile shopping assistant, Macy’s on Call, is part of its business reinvention strategy.

The supercomputer is going to be converting an anime from a book series into a huge multiplayer online game.

The Japanese division at IBM has now turned its attention to creating a VR game out of an anime called “Sword Art Online: The Beginning” with the assistance of its Watson artificial intelligence supercomputer.

The project is meant to turn the book series into a virtual reality multiplayer game available online.

The team at IBM is using Watson’s cognitive computing, in conjunction with the cloud service from SoftLayer, as a part of a partnership with Namco Bandai. They intend to be able to test the new VR game in Tokyo, in March. In order to be able to play the virtual reality game, players will need to wear VR headsets so they will be capable of viewing the world in the role of their 3D avatar. In this way, the player doesn’t use a controller in order to participate in the game. They actually become the controller.

The VR game will support the HTC Vive, while it also looks as though Occulus Rift and SlashGear will be supported.

Aside from some introductory basics, there hasn’t been much in terms of details that have been revealed, so far. Moreover, at the time of the writing of this article, IBM hadn’t provided an immediate response to comment requests.

The anime, in question, Sword Art Online, was first launched in 2012 and was based on a 2009 light series of Japanese novels. The story includes a considerable focus on virtual reality and opens up a tremendous opportunity for multiplayer role-playing games (RPGs).

The series that will become a VR game first ran in 2012 in Tokyo, but it has since streamed on Hulu and Crunchyroll. In 2013, it arrived in North America, where it is also now available on Netflix. At the Mobile World Congress (MWC), IBM announced that it would be bringing the IBM Cloud together with the Apple Swift runtime package. The goal result is to have a enterprise app development based on cloud tech, that would function with Swift. The MobileFirst platform can also be leveraged by customers, meaning it’s possible for them to use hybrid app versions for managing mobile from one platform.