Byte-Sized AI is a bi-weekly column that covers all things artificial intelligence—from startup funding, to newly inked partnerships, to just-launched, AI-powered capabilities from major retailers, software providers and supply chain players.
Debenhams wants to upskill its employees
Debenhams Group, which includes a portfolio of brands like Boohoo, PrettyLittleThing, Debenhams and others, announced this week that it has launched an AI Skills Academy, which is meant to help upskill its employees for the continued growth of emerging technologies.
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The program comes as a partnership with Multiverse, a technology adoption platform that works to plug skill gaps employees might have. According to the company’s website, other clients include Microsoft, Citi and KPMG.
Debenhams Group said it plans to use Multiverse’s services to teach its employees how to become more productive by leveraging AI, how to eliminate or decrease time needed for mundane, repeat tasks and how to build in-house systems so the company can continue its digital transformation with less interference from third-party partners.
The funds for the program are coming from Debenhams Group’s £1.35 million ($1.8 million) Apprenticeship Levy fund.
Dan Finley, CEO of Debenhams Group said the company is prioritizing its workforce as technology continues to proliferate.
“Adopting AI is not just about investing in our systems—it’s about investing in our people. With the launch of the AI Skills Academy, we’re giving our teams the tools to think differently, work smarter and build for the future. This is about unlocking the potential of every colleague to drive real innovation across the group,” Finley said in a statement.
The announcement comes just weeks after Debenhams Group said it had expanded its partnership with Amazon Web Services (AWS) to integrate a variety of generative AI systems to aid with marketing initiatives and consumer-facing styling tools. At the time, Finley said Debenhams Group wants to move forward as a “modern, technology-led retailer” that can “future proof the business” while also providing incremental experiential value to its consumers.
Aetrex’s new measurement tool integrates conversational AI
Aetrex announced this week that it has plans to release a new foot-scanning tool, which it calls Zoe Pro. It will launch in August, and retailers will be able to use it to provide foot measurements, pressure analysis and AI-driven recommendations inside their stores.
Zoe Pro’s predecessor was Aetrex’s Albert Pro scanner; it had a few additional capabilities, but also required more hardware to build.
The idea is that, in removing some physical hardware components, Aetrex has been able to make the cost of Zoe Pro more accessible than the cost of Albert Pro. According to Aetrex, Zoe Pro costs $1,995 or $55 monthly.
Albert Pro had three microcontroller unit processors (MCU processors), while Zoe Pro has just one; that helps make the system more compact and speeds up the machine’s ability to ingest and process information for the customer. Aetrex said it took engineers 18 months to develop Zoe Pro.
Zoe Pro also features a 3D, animated virtual assistant, called Zoe, that alerts users how to operate the system, shares their results and matches a consumer’s profile to personalized options available in the store they’re shopping in.
Larry Schwartz, Aetrex’s CEO, said Zoe Pro will appeal to a wide swath of consumers trying to find their perfect fit.
“Zoe Pro is an engineering breakthrough that combines precision with simplicity,” he said in a statement. “This is the future of fit. And it fits everyone.”
Albert Pro has been used by retailers like Foot Locker and DSW and by brands, like Puma and Asics.
Goodwill Baltimore improves e-commerce listings with PhotoRoom’s AI
Goodwill Baltimore linked with Photoroom, which uses generative AI to clean up photos—often for secondhand commerce—for product description pages. According to a case study released by the two companies last week, the nonprofit has seen striking results.
David Bartfeld, director of e-commerce for the Goodwill agency at Baltimore, said other divisions of Goodwill have started reaching out to his team to inquire about the quality of the photos his agency uses. Now, agencies in Delaware and Southeast Georgia have also integrated the technology into their workflows.
For Goodwill Baltimore, using Photoroom allows employees to edit more than 300 photos per day. An employee takes photos of items using a smartphone, then batch uploads those photos to Photoroom, which helps even out the image and adds a neutral, uniform background. For the agency, that solved a major issue it faced: slow photography that looked clunky or inconsistent on the nonprofit’s website. Prior to using Photoroom, Bartfeld’s team relied on physical backdrops and attempted to fix issues using Microsoft Paint, which ultimately yielded frustration, he said.
“Nothing we attempted prior has been more practical than Photoroom,” Bartfeld said in a statement. “The app is very simple to use, especially with the ability to batch edit photos.”
Because the agency can now create high-quality images in seconds, it has upped the number of listings it has on any given day. That, in turn, results in meeting business goals more rapidly, Bartfeld said.
“Photoroom has helped us speed up how we produce quality photography and list items. It’s increased our listings, and, ultimately, our revenue,” he said.
Other Photoroom customers include Depop, Amazon and Mercari, per the company’s website.
FashWire uses computer vision and machine learning to turn inspiration to purchase
FashWire, an app that aids consumers in finding fashion and apparel items to add to their closets via a “Tinder-esque” user interface and outfit sharing functions, announced this week that it will allow users to upload a photo and receive suggestions for similar products. The tool, called FashFind, will be available by August 29 in the FashWire app.
FashWire’s parent company, The Wires, partnered with AWS and SnapSoft on the project. FashFind can pull from over 500 brands in 60 countries, then shop through a selected brand’s site with ease, the company contends.
Kimberly Carney, CEO of The Wires, said the tool beats other reverse-image search interfaces because it allows users to complete the final step of their shopping journey: transacting with a retailer.
“FashFind goes beyond matching look-alike images. Our users can transact directly with our FashWire brands to purchase the dress, shirt, shoes, they are looking for, and there is no frustration or distraction of photos of similar outfits that lead to nowhere,” Carney said in a statement. “The most exciting aspect of FashFind is that it unlocks access for consumers and brands that may have otherwise never found each other. Our brands range from high-end luxury designers to boutique brands from small towns around the world that are not available in retail. It is a unique shopping experience that cannot be found anywhere else.”
FashFind leverages computer vision paired with machine learning algorithms to identify the unique attributes submitted products have—whether that’s color, fabric type, patterns, silhouette, length or otherwise.
Brandon Kissinger, founder of SnapSoft, said the collaboration marks an exciting step forward for FashWire.
“By combining SnapSoft’s deep expertise in artificial intelligence with The Wires’ vision for consumer-driven innovation, we are creating a feature that turns everyday inspiration into immediate discovery,” Kissinger said in a statement.
