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ASSISTANT AIAs artificial intelligence grows more sophisticated and adaptive, it’s finally

appearing in consumer-friendly forms and situations, giving people novelty, convenience and a range of solutions that save headspace.

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WHAT’S THE STORY?Technological breakthroughs are allowing AI systems to sense, interpret and learn from the world in

more sophisticated ways, while giving them the tools to learn from their past interactions. The result: a wave of consumer-facing, AI-driven solutions that are making environments more responsive to people, freeing up humans’ attention for other activities, and changing the meaning and nature of some tasks

that were previously completed manually

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M Social Hotel, a trendy, Millennial-focused hotel in Singapore, has been praised for its deployment of two models of autonomous hotel helpers: Aura, a robot butler that can ride elevators and traverse the hotel’s corridors to deliver food and other supplies on demand to guests, and Ausca, a newer model that serves as the hotel restaurant’s front-of-house chef (as long as you want your eggs as an omelet or sunny-side-up. Other establishments in the city, such as the Park Avenue Rochester, Hotel Jen and the Hotel Singapore also have robot helpers.

“Lotte Department Stores has launched an AI chatbot called Losa. It can answer all questions about services at Lotte as well as give personalized product recommendations and advice. Losa is easy to use; it has been designed to learn more about a customer’s preferences as they use it, and it can also understand slang and colloquial speech. It is dense with graphics, and shows pictures, videos and maps to explain things to customers.”

—NICKY, STREETSCAPER, SEOUL

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“British people love their pets, and as people get more interested in health, they are starting to take a greater interest in their pets’ health and wellness too. Mars Petcare has had the insight that animal owners want the kind of tailored advice they can get for themselves for their animals, through health apps and the like. The Perfect Fit AI provides this: via Facebook’s Messenger, it provides personalized weekly tips and makes recommendations for each pet’s unique needs.

—GAËLLE, STREETSCAPER, LONDON

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M U S EUSA

E M E LYA / P U D D I N GRUSSIA / CHINA

04 05Muse is the brainchild of Vivienne Ming, an entrepreneur, neuroscientist and mother of two. The Muse AI is Vivienne’s attempt to answer the most common question parents ask her: “What one thing can I do right now to best help my child?” Communicating through texts, Muse asks parents a single yes or no question every day about what’s been happening in a child’s life lately (such as eating a new type of food or playing with a

friend). It can interpret other things too, like snapshots of a child’s artwork or snippets of a conversation with them. Then, drawing on the latest research on brain and child development, Muse recommends easy activities that parents can do with their child to speed their progress. If they’re curious, parents can also access the science behind the recommendations.

“Emelya is a voice-controlled personal assistant for families with children; it’s the Russian version of the Chinese robot Pudding, and is one of the first of its kind in the country. Emelya is the name of a talkative character from a Russian fairy-tale, which suits the gadget’s main function: Emelya can understand natural speech and answer children’s questions, tell tales, or give directions (“brush your teeth" etc.). Emelya is also a tutor, and can teach children the basics of math, the Russian language, geography and biology, among others. A built-in video-camera turns the device into a child’s monitor. It simplifies parents’ lives, making hands-off parenting possible by taking over some of the more mundane tasks of bringing up children.”

—ANNA, STREETSCAPER, MOSCOW

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A M A Z O N E C H O L O O KUSA

C L O VA F R I E N D SJAPAN

06 07The Echo Look is one of the latest versions of Amazon’s Echo smart speaker series, now equipped with a camera. Echo Look offers consumers a powerful AI style assistant: out of the box, it takes pictures and videos, and allows users to crowdsource their specific style questions to other users. Over time, the Look slowly learns a person’s style, cataloguing outfits and individual pieces and

sorting them into collections (which can be accessed and referred to later). Then, drawing on the latest machine learning and computer vision techniques—as well as the input of fashion and style experts with whom Amazon has partnered—it can make style recommendations when a user doesn’t know what to wear, or needs help choosing between options.

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Line, the Japanese tech firm, is unveiling its second-generation smart speaker Clova to compete with the likes of Amazon Echo and Google Home. Like those devices, it can answer questions and operate other devices wirelessly. But Line has other tricks up its sleeve, too: it’s calling its newest models Clova Friends, has given them the likenesses of two popular mascots, and says that it’s the first smart speaker “to be given its own sense

of character.” Innovative features give the device a sense of tactility and personality: users can buy clothes for their Clova Friend, and it responds to touch in interesting ways (pushing its nose makes it stop what it’s doing, for example, and its internal microphones are actually situated inside its ears). Line wants to encourage users to talk to it daily, “with the same sense of familiarity as a member of the family.”

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According to Plan International, a global nonprofit that does work for children, research shows that people talk to their children differently depending on their gender: “We talk to boys about their abilities, and we talk to girls about their bodies.” Plan is trying to change that with Sheboard, an AI integrated into a downloadable smartphone keyboard. The AI interprets people’s texts as they write them; when it senses gendered language,

such as “My daughter looks pretty”, it automatically suggests un-gendered alternatives, such as “My daughter looks smart.” The AI is a guard against—and a powerful reminder of—how pervasive and invisible sexism can be. According to Plan: “We don’t always even realize when the words we choose strengthen stereotypes. Sheboard helps everyone reflect on—and possibly change—the ways we talk to and about girls.”

S H E B O A R DGLOBAL

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A I T R A N S L AT I O N ASIA

09Travelers to and natives of Asia now have a variety of cutting-edge translation tools available for on-the-go-encounters. For example, Papago, from Korean company Naver, allows two-way translation between Korean, Chinese and English, with some functionality in Japanese, Spanish and French (and other Asian languages to come). The Papago app can understand street signs and written text, handle live translations, and understand subtleties such as slang or intonation.

Meanwhile Japanese company Logbar is releasing its ili translator widelyin Asia; it is specially made for the most common interactions English-speaking travelers might have (e.g., ordering in a restaurant or asking questions about a hotel room). It performs split-second translations of English speech into Japanese, Mandarin Chinese, and Spanish audio, and though it does less than some competitors, it doesn’t need an internet connection, unlike apps and most other devices of this kind.

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*Lack of consensus on ways to regulate AI, clearing the way

for an explosion of diverse consumer-facing innovations

Rise of algorithm-led lifestyles and personalized solutions, leading to greater consumer trust in AI solutions

Demographic trends, such as aging populations, creating demand for automated services in new areas

Rise of computer vision, and more sophisticated techniques for processing natural human language

Commercialization and commoditization of big data, providing AI with rich datasets for training and specialization

HOW WILL THESE FORCES SHAPE ASSISTANT AI IN THE FUTURE?

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W H A T ’ S U N D E R P I N N I N G T H I S E N E R G Y ?C U LT U R A L C O N T E X T A N D M A C R O - L E V E L D R I V E R S

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As AI becomes mainstream, it

transforms consumers’ relationship to

work and leisure; paid work, formerly

central to consumer identity, will be

devalued. Craft activities that require

specialized knowledge and skills (and

can’t be automated) will become

important sources of identity for a

majority of consumers. Professional

consumerism (earning a livelihood from

one’s spending habits, as digital

influencers do now) will also become

more widespread.

AI agents will act on behalf of

consumers to secure a majority of

goods, reducing the number of

possible touchpoints for brands.

Brands that take digital leadership will

develop their own AIs to act as lifestyle

assistants; follow-on competitors will

be forced to play on leaders’ platforms.

Except for a few iconic brands with

high-demand products, consumers will

come to understand value as provided

by service, and not products. As brands

get used to marketing to AIs instead of

directly to people, many products will

become more generic but higher-quality

(or filling more specific niches).

The automation of many routine tasks

will free up consumers’ time,

encouraging many to spend more time

on entertainment and leisure. AI will

make shopping and purchasing so

frictionless and easy that consumer

debt and spending will increase.

Companies that can find new ways to

harness this debt-driven spending will

profit.

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T H O U G H T S T A R T E R SO P P O R T U N I T I E S F O R Y O U R B R A N D A N D B U S I N E S S

• What service needs do your customers have that can be meaningfully addressed with AI?

• Where, and to what extent, will a human presence lend trust or accountability to your AI-assisted services?

• Have you thought about how your brand should sound, talk, or feel if and when it is channeled through an AI agent? What opportunities do you have to address this now? How does your AI further your overall brand positioning?

• Which, if any, of your brand’s consumer touchpoints are in danger of disintermediation? Who are your customers that will delegate a brand touchpoint to an AI, and why?

• What is your strategy for protecting your algorithmic/AI investments from regulatory changes in the future?

• How will your AI strategy help future-proof your relationship with customers? For which future shifts—such as the shift to cashless/online payments, for example—can AI help you retrain your customers, your followers or your staff?

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