This week, Dutch supermarket operator Albert Heijn rolled out a new feature of its AH customer app that deploys generative AI to help users with cooking and shopping. Developed by in-house tech team Gen AI Labs, the application `Mijn AH assistent’ (My AH Assistant) answers frequently asked customer questions. For example, when asking ‘What are we eating today?’ it proposes product suggestions and recipe ideas.
The assistant also offers practical tips for kitchen and household. The application, which is based on machine learning and large language models, is new and therefore not yet perfectly adapted to all questions. However, it learns quickly and should become better able to adapt to the individual needs of customers over time. Albert Heijn is the first supermarket in the Netherlands to integrate generative AI into its customer app.
At the same time as the AH Assistant, Albert Heijn has fully integrated the ‘Scan & Cook’ function presented at Food & Tech Week this summer into its customer app. Following tests with customers, the company has further optimised the application, which is also controlled by generative AI. Consumers can use it to photograph products and then receive recipe suggestions with these ingredients. This should also help customers to throw away less food by giving them suggestions on how they can use leftover products sensibly. The Retail Optimiser reported.
Impact of generative AI is growing
More and more retailers are placing high expectations on the use of generative AI. The technology generates new content from large amounts of data with which it has been trained. This can be text, photos, videos or even sounds. The technology promises to revolutionise many areas of life and business. In retail for example customer service, employee training and advertising. The Retail Optimiser reports regularly on these developments. The report ‘From hype to the shop: AI arrives in retail’ provides an overview.
With its Gen AI Labs, Albert Heijn presents itself as one of the pioneers of the technology in retail. ‘With generative AI, we are able to develop applications that offer our customers more convenience and inspiration in their everyday lives,’ explains CEO Marit van Egmond. The retailer is already using generative AI in customer service to summarise customer conversations and improve answers to frequently asked questions. A chatbot on the company’s intranet uses generative AI to answer employee questions in different languages in real time. The technology also supports in-house software developers in writing code with a tool called GitHub Copilot.
AH App becomes multilingual
Thanks to generative AI, the AH App is now also largely available in English. Albert Heijn wants to make the app accessible to even more customers and meet the needs of international users. The company has announced that more languages will follow soon.
