#38: new (untrustworthy) AI friends

Happy Friday and welcome! We're bringing you our roundup of industry news summarised in an exclusive LinkedIn newsletter. For more detail on any news featured here, check out 'This week in CX' on the Customer Experience Magazine (CXM) website.

This week, we're looking at new experiments on AI bots and digital fashion.

CXM experiments: Snapchat's new AI chatbot

👻 Social media platform Snapchat have launched their own AI chatbot called ‘My AI’. It is automatically on your friends list on the platform and available for you to interact with straight away. When you ask the bot what it can do, it lists a variety of tasks (pictured below). 

If you send the bot a photo, it will be able to analyse the photo and tell you what it is looking at, but only lists it as a ‘scenario’. If you question that, it will insist you did not send it a photo. Is this a bug to the new bot, or a strange, dishonest AI mechanism we should be wary of? Upon later questioning, we also found possible issues on inaccurate information and questions about the AI’s information sources. Lots of things to raise our eyebrows at here, despite how impressive this bot is.

Check out some of our research and experimentation with My AI here. Find the full experiment on our site.

Sitecore introduces OpenAI generative AI integration functionality

🤖 OpenAI 's ChatGPT integration across Sitecore ’s array of fully composable software solutions is here. This feature release, powered by Microsoft Azure OpenAI Service will provide marketers the ability to integrate Generative AI functionality into their Sitecore-powered martech stack. This should improve efficiency, personalisation, and content production at scale.

59% of UK marketers are actively investing in Generative AI technologies to support their marketing or CX functions. These are findings from an exclusive Sitecore survey of over 400 UK marketers conducted in March 2023 by Advanis . Another 35% of UK marketers are seriously considering investment in the short-term. 

AI is seen as the most important martech investment for 72% of UK marketers – according to the Advanis survey. Digital experience software has been selected as the second spot priority. Software providers that can integrate generative AI functions into DX software delivery will therefore be addressing the most important needs for savvy, solution-focused brands.

• Virtual production studio, Dimension and talent agency,  Unsigned Group , unveiled the world’s first MetaHuman supermodel – Eva Herzigova. Using a 70 camera rig, the studio was able to successfully recreate a hyperreal 3D MetaHuman version of world renowned supermodel, Eva. The MetaHuman model can be dressed, and styled in many different ways as well as having her body and facial expressions animated using motion capture or traditional animation. 
• Grocery price inflation rose by 17.3% in the four weeks to 16 April 2023, down marginally on the 17.5% recorded in the previous four weeks according to the latest data from Kantar .  Take home grocery sales grew by 8.1% over the month to mid-April. Shoppers are likely to be looking ahead to the three bank holidays in May, including for the Coronation, which could impact grocery sales. 
• The UK’s Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) has blocked  Microsoft ’s $68.7bn (£55bn) takeover of Activision Blizzard . The CMA voiced concerns that the deal would lead to reduced innovation and less choice for gaming customers. Last October, the CMA also blocked Meta’s acquisition of the gif-sharing platform Giphy. They cited a risk to competition in social media and display advertising.

Salesforce announced that  Slack canvas is beginning its rollout to all Slack users. Canvases are a permanent place in Slack where teams can create, organise, and share essential business resources. It is particularly useful for sales and marketing teams.

CXM articles of the week

Are you caught up on the top articles we published this week? Give them a read if not!

Thanks for tuning into CXM’s weekly roundup of industry news. To find out the new coverages in full and more, remember to check this week's post. Check back next Friday for the latest updates of the week!