Google announced Tuesday that big-name companies, including Best Buy, Mercedes Benz and ADT, are now using its Gemini AI technology to build personalized chatbots — meaning Google's AI will soon play a role in everything from troubleshooting a Best Buy purchase to setting up an ADT home security system.
Google revealed the news at its ongoing Google Cloud Next conference in Las Vegas, Feb Engadget.
Best Buy confirmed Google's statements with a proclamation on Tuesday about its upcoming AI tools.
According to Bloomberg, Best Buy's AI-powered chatbots will handle customer requests for basic requests like order delivery and scheduling. The robots will take some of the workload off Best Buy's human employees who work in stores and call centers, though it's unclear if jobs will be affected. The AI will start rolling out “in the coming months.”
Mercedes, meanwhile, is working on an AI-powered chatbot to add to its intelligent sales assistant, while IHG Hotels & Resorts is developing a vacation planning bot to enhance its mobile app, according to Engadget.
Home security company ADT is also building an AI customer service agent to help customers deploy its products, according to the same report.
AI has already impacted a number of industries, with buy-now-pay-later company Klarna declaring in February that its AI chatbot “is doing the equivalent work of 700 full-time (customer service) agents.”
On the financial side, JPMorgan CEO Jamie Dimon mentioned in a letter to shareholders on Monday that AI can augment “virtually any job.”
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AI-focused startups have seen an interest in funding, with a February report showing that 44% of all new billion-dollar companies that hit the scene last year focused on AI and machine learning.
However, it hasn't been all positive news for Google's AI efforts. In February, the tech giant put down its Gemini AI image generator after users noticed that the AI placed people of color in historically inaccurate contexts.
The image generator is STILL not spare.
in March, the news came out of private talks between Google and Apple about bringing Google's AI features to the iPhone.
The Google Cloud Next conference runs through Thursday.