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.
Walmart launches gen AI tool for internal merchants
Walmart announced this week that it has deployed a generative AI-based assistant for its merchants.
The tool, called Wally, can help employees automate data entry, generate insights about a data set, figure out the reasons associated with a product’s performance and calculate necessary forecasts to help the merchant with decisioning.
Like many other AI assistant tools, Walmart notes that Wally does not require technical expertise. Wally is trained to answer employees’ natural language questions.
The company said it expects that Wally can help merchants “focus on strategic, creative and innovative activities that enhance customer experiences and meet evolving customer expectations,” rather than using that time on repetitive, time-consuming tasks.
Per Walmart’s blog post, the company developed Wally itself, using a conglomeration of its own business data and company needs, with a focus on “ultimately enabling it to act autonomously on the merchant’s behalf within configurable guardrails, executing tactical actions necessary to bring their strategy to life.”
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Doug McMillon, president and CEO of Walmart, gave a short sneak peek at the tool on the company’s Q4 earnings call late last month, also noting that some internal employees are using AI tools to aid their coding efforts. McMillon said technology continues to be an important part of Walmart’s way forward.
“As we become more productive and reduce the amount of time we work on routine tasks, that gives us time to develop tools that help us grow the business and move faster,” he said. “I love how we’re changing how we think and work without changing who we are. I can see us getting faster.”
Augment snags $25M for AI-enabled logistics
San Francisco-headquartered startup Augment has secured a $25 million seed round, led by 8VC, it announced Tuesday.
The startup aims to use AI to solve inefficiencies in the logistics landscape. Its marquis product, which it calls Augie, is an AI-powered assistant that helps freight industry operators automate time-consuming, mundane tasks for greater efficiency and accuracy.
Augie can place and take calls, or send texts and emails, related to shipment location, issues with deliveries and other related issues. It can also partially automate workflows for truckload (FTL), less-than-truckload (LTL) and drayage shipments. It interacts with human operators via a dashboard and via employees’ own communication tools, like Slack.
Harish Abbott, co-founder and CEO of Augment, said the fundraising round emphasizes investors’ belief in the transformative impact AI could have on the at-large logistics industry when deployed against meaningful use cases.
“We are applying AI to logistics, one of the largest and most complex industries, to drive transformative change,” said Abbott. “Augie is like an assistant to every operator in the freight industry, Augie performs the tedious and mundane tasks so the operators can focus on the important and urgent.
Harish previously founded Deliverr, previously owned by Shopify and now owned by Flexport.
The startup, which has offices in San Francisco, Chicago and Toronto, plans to use the funds to further build out its logistics-focused platform and to increase headcount on its engineering and customer success teams.
Arrive Logistics, a brokerage, is one of Augment’s first customers. Matt Pyatt, founder and CEO of Arrive, said the technology will help his company continue to provide strong service to its own clients.
“We partnered with Augment to build a multi-functional AI assistant, giving our team another tool to spend more time on value-added parts of their jobs and delivering a better experience to our partners,” Pyatt said in a statement. “The Augment team has exceeded our expectations as a partner, shadowing our reps in house, learning the business and building solutions that make sense for our operation.”
Automation on the backend of logistics is becoming increasingly popular in the industry; Flexport recently shared further information about a slew of AI-based tools it plans to use to streamline operations for customers.
Lilly Pulitzer parent selects Exotec as robotics partner for new DC
Oxford Industries, which owns brands like Lilly Pulitzer, Tommy Bahama and Johnny Was, has selected AI-enabled warehousing robotics vendor Exotec to install automated systems in its new distribution center in Lyons, Ga.
Oxford will integrate Exotec’s Skypod system, which uses robots to pick and carry up to 66 pounds’ worth of goods around the warehouse and uses cameras to sense and respond to any obstacles on the distribution center floor.
Exotec’s systems use machine learning, deep learning and proprietary algorithms to effectively identify, move, sort, pick and otherwise handle items in a client’s warehouse.
Oxford’s newest distribution center, slated to open in the latter half of the year, will use over 450 robots to sort, pack and ship items out of the facility, which boasts more than 560,000 square feet. According to Exotec, the partners also hope to use the robots to help with returns-based challenges by using the robots to “significantly [cut] the amount of time and labor needed to inspect, sort and store returned items, streamlining the process of making it available for resale.”
Romain Moulin, CEO and co-founder of Exotec, said this project marks the company’s largest deployment to date. It already works with clients like Uniqlo and Gap.
“The Oxford Industries project not only showcases the performance and scalability of our system, but also the sophistication or our integration capabilities,” Moulin said in a statement. “Having a client like Oxford Industries select Exotec as the integrator for a project of this complexity speaks volumes about the trust they put in our ability to deliver end-to-end warehouse automation that goes beyond our standard Skypod system.”
Lowe’s uses gen AI to answer home improvement questions
Earlier this month, Lowe’s launched Mylow, a generative AI-powered chatbot that allows consumers to receive answers to home improvement-related questions.
For instance, a consumer might ask Mylow, “Which washer and dryer pair will save me the most on my utility bills?” or “How much mulch do I need for my flower beds?” From there, Mylow answers the question, sharing advice and products a consumer might find useful for the project they’re working on.
Mylow, which Lowe’s developed in tandem with OpenAI, can also provide localized recommendations if consumers provide their zip code. According to the company, the tool is already available to MyLowe’s Rewards members via desktop or mobile browser.
Seemantini Godbole, chief digital and information officer at Lowe’s, said the tool will help the company better serve its customers.
“Home improvement is inherently complex and can feel overwhelming even for the most experienced DIYer—that’s why Lowe’s has invested in AI and emerging technologies to create solutions that truly help our customers,” Godbole said in a statement. “We’re aiming to deliver the best customer service in retail and Mylow represents an industry-leading step forward in helping us do that. This solution will not only help our customers be more informed, but our associates too.”
Going forward, Lowe’s anticipates it will integrate the system into its app—and add voice-activated capabilities—later this year.
Home Depot launched a similar tool, which it calls Magic Apron, earlier this month.