How Morgan Stanley, The Washington Post, Wyndham, Eileen Fisher, and Amazon buy & use generative AI tech

Welcome back to Blue Seedling's Enterprise Generative AI Digest. This month, we explore numerous enterprise retail & e-commerce GenAI use cases, banking use cases, and a fun first for GenAI; a hospitality AI assistant.

Dive in to discover how Amazon, Morgan Stanley, Eileen Fisher, GE, The Washington Post, Wyndham Hotels & Resorts, and others are buying & using AI tech.

Before we get started, in case you missed it: If you're leading an AI venture targeting enterprise buyers or need to position your company in the GenAI era, be sure to check out Blue Seedling 's recent webinar recording about what tech vendors get right – and wrong – about pitching AI capabilities. It's a fascinating conversation between brand positioning leader Jordan Elkind and enterprise retail executive Kim Gallagher (Nuuly, Urban Outfitters, Anthropologie).

And now, on with the show...

1. Amazon AI chatbot Rufus is now live for all US customers (TechCrunch) – Amazon's AI shopping assistant is now available to all U.S. customers in the mobile app. Rufus helps find products, compare items, and offer recommendations. "Customers could ask things like 'What to consider when buying headphones?' or 'I want to start an indoor garden.'"
2. How Eileen Fisher is using AI to help customers find their best-fitting sizes (Modern Retail) – Eileen Fisher launched an AI-powered sizing tool called The Closet, which has driven 50% more conversions than shoppers who don't use it.
3. How Amazon sees generative AI affecting retail (Chain Store Age) – Amazon is using GenAI for product content creation, customer review analysis, and supply chain risk assessment. "Given an image and a basic description, generative AI creates appropriate copy for the product. AI models are being used to enumerate risks in the supply chain like material shortages, shipping bottlenecks, transportation delays, quality problems, and unexpected demand changes."
4. Accenture clocks up $2 billion in generative AI sales so far this year (Diginomica) – Accenture is implementing GenAI solutions for clients across various industries. One example: "We developed a digital shelf console pilot, a GenAI engine that accelerates content creation for e-commerce and optimizes it to drive sales. The engine empowers marketers to audit and customize content at scale, [is] expected to reduce time to deliver one year's worth of content to just eight working days and save costs of up to 80% quickly and effectively."
5. CIOs' concerns over generative AI echo those of the early days of cloud computing (TechCrunch) – Companies are rapidly adopting GenAI across various functions. GE Vernova is running multiple AI pilots, while ServiceNow is implementing AI literacy programs for all employees. "We created some learning pathways, so everybody in the company had to take their AI 101. We created that and selectively [levels] 201 and 301 because we know the future is AI, and so we have to get our whole workforce comfortable with it."
6. AI'S RAPID EVOLUTION MEANS A BRIGHT FUTURE AWAITS THE BANKING SECTOR (International Banker) – Morgan Stanley launched AI @ Morgan Stanley Assistant, giving financial advisors access to the bank's "intellectual capital" of over 100,000 research reports and documents. The bank also introduced Debrief, an AI tool that automatically summarizes client meetings and generates follow-up emails.
7. The Washington Post made an AI chatbot for questions about climate (The Verge) – The Washington Post launched Climate Answers, an AI chatbot focused on climate change, using the outlet's reporting since 2016 to answer questions.
8. Wyndham Orlando Resort & Conference Center/Celebration Partners with Cecilia.ai (Wyndham Orlando Resort) – The resort introduced "Sara," the world's first hospitality AI bartender. "Whether guests are looking for a classic cocktail or a great knock-knock joke, Sara will shake, stir, entertain, and serve with precision and flair."

I hope you found this edition valuable. As always, I'd love to hear your thoughts. Did you like it? ?? or ???

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