Course: YUB term 2. What is the impact of AI on e-commerce?

Course: YUB term 2
Date: 2018/8/12
AI (Artificial intelligence)
What is the impact of AI on e-commerce?
In this growing technology world, AI is a common and effective strategy used by numerous businesses and organizations. AI is not a high-tech substitute for the human brain, but is used to imitate human senses. On the other hand, a powerful AI will have the ability of a human being to perceive, learn, reason, imagine and express (Greenwald, 2018). The current trend of AI can improve the efficiency of various resource consumption. The existence of AI is full of potential, the future is unpredictable and there are many surprises. It indirectly reproduces human intelligence development through machines, especially computer systems. The applications of artificial intelligence are most common in the fields of healthcare, electronic games, finance, advertising, and an automobile and so on. It has been thought that artificial intelligence has a positive effect on e-commerce. There are several online businesses such as an online grocery store, working at all hours of the day so AI on e-commerce allow online businesses to collect and analyse information in real-time. Additionally, it also allows companies to be more efficient, and to personalize the customer experience based on the knowledge of the customer. The impact of artificial intelligence on e-commerce can be viewed from the aspects of reducing labor costs, providing more personalized services, and improving the efficiency of warehousing logistics.
Considering the advantages of artificial intelligence in e-commerce, the important role of artificial intelligence in e-commerce is to reduce labor costs but it might have some adverse effect on the labour. It has been observed that businesses are using a variety of automated machines to sell and provide services to customers in order to reduce labor costs, such as chat robots and artificial intelligence retailers. AI retailers may help customers to “make more informed decision, receive more targeted and beneficial offers and obtain faster service”, and using the technology could help customers reduce waiting time (Grewal, Roggeveen, & Nordfält, 2017). In addition, chat robots play a vital role in the e-commerce business, for example, e-commerce websites provide 24-hour service support for their valuable customers. The progress of artificial intelligence has begun to show in a variety of applications, including the creation of artificial intelligence to defeat human, Chatbots, and virtual assistants in complex strategic games such as Alexa and Siri, and Amazon new cashier-less and cash-less grocery stores (Furman, & Seamans, 2018). Potential customers can easily communicate with them while using speech or text. These robots provide useful help and perform simple tasks. Furman and Seamans (2018) state that "AI and robotics have the potential to increase productivity growth but may have mixed effects on labor, particularly in the short." In this way, businesses do not require employees on different shifts to provide customer care services, and this helps them in reducing labor cost. Moreover, it has been perceived that AI robots are effectually working in retail stores and warehouses. Robots help customers...