A few thoughts on ChatGPT and Commerce

Who hasn't been using ChatGPT's text-based artificial intelligence (AI) over the recent weeks and been blown away by the good and realistic results? ChatGPT is an AI-powered chatbot created by OpenAI, a San Francisco-based artificial intelligence research lab. It was founded in 2015 by a group of people including Elon Musk and todays CEO Sam Altman. The chatbot utilizes a deep learning algorithm to generate human-like responses to user queries. It is designed to understand natural language and provide helpful answers to questions. Since the release of the chatbot in November last year, there have been daily reports from people feeding the algorithm the most bizarre of prompts and receiving amazingly creative answers:

• Explain HTML to me like I'm a dog.
• Write an ode about Elon Musk buying Twitter.
• Sell me this pen.

The more you read, the more amazing the examples become: In this video, someone explains how to let AI generate graphics and text for websites. And this article is about using ChatGPT as a diary or even as a therapist, imitating either Socrates, Buddha or Jesus (!) and helping you work out your personal problems. You can also elicit code and commands from the AI that are surprisingly correct, for example when it comes to editing video files, finding security holes, debugging or even writing code.

General reception

I have also been infected by the general euphoria surrounding Generative AI (GenAI) and am trying to understand the field more deeply. Even in my filter bubble, there is a sense of amazement, curiosity and experimentation. And interestingly, from my point of view, the reception of this new technology is fundamentally different from the current crypto and web3 discussions. The latter seems to be mainly VC and get-rich-quick driven, and constantly trying to find meaningful applications - away from just pure speculation). In contrast, my feeling is that the applications and benefits of GenAI are much more tangible and less speculative - which can be seen, among other things, in the fact that there are already products and services based on GenAI - or especially ChatGTP - for various topics.

E-Commerce and AI

AI applications in commerce are nothing new. These days, they are routinely used to professionalize commerce processes at scale.

• For example, recommendations based on products users have browsed or added to their shopping carts are common, and the underlying logic has been baked into countless recommendation services available to brands and merchants.
• A second use case that comes to mind is fraud prevention: AI models can detect fraudulent behavior in web stores and help store owners protect credit card holders.
• Another example of AI at play in e-commerce is the use of chatbots in customer service. Typically, these technologies take the most frequently asked questions that a customer service representative might encounter and provide human-like responses.

Now, with GenAI, it's a whole new ball game. As the term "generative" suggests, instead of "just" finding patterns and operating within fixed boundaries, we now have the ability to create entirely new artifacts like these:

• I have already seen demos where the algorithm creates product descriptions based on a few keywords. So instead of writing copy that engages the audience and makes the product seem as desirable as possible, in the future you could just let GenAI do that creation for you based on a few attributes and the overall context of the store. You can already see this in action by tuning in to what dropshippers are saying about the possibilities for their business.?
• At an even higher level, people are now experimenting with letting ChatGPT generate entire business models, including taglines and website copy, marketing strategy checklists, etc.?
• Last but not least, a more technical audience is also looking at how GenAI could make their lives easier. Here's an interesting take on how it could make creating and maintaining developer documentation more efficient.

I'm barely scratching the surface here, there's a lot more to talk about. I just wanted to collect some thoughts, and will expand on some of them in the coming weeks. Let me know what you think.