Mastering artificial intelligence the next big focus of Flipkart

Flipkart shopping experience is going to get better with Flipkart’s new focus area. Flipkart is working to gain mastery over artificial intelligence, cofounder and CEO Sachin Bansal told ET, describing the technology as a key differentiator in the fiercely competitive business of online retail.

Bansal's comments, are of a piece with Flipkart's efforts to expand capability in technology areas such as data analytics and mobility.

"The big disruption that is happening across the world is the rise of artificial intelligence," the 34-year-old said on Friday at an event organised by The Indus Entrepreneurs in Bengaluru.

"At Flipkart that is a huge focus for us." Earlier this year, Flipkart hired former Google executive Punit Soni as its chief product officer and appointed Peyush Ranjan, also a Google veteran, as its head of engineering. Bansal's comments throw light on the work that the technology teams have been tasked with, and point to the potential advancements at online retailers.

"The number of shopping experiences will become more and more human, rather than talking to a machine that's pretty dumb," said Bansal, who studied at IIT Delhi and worked at Amazon before launching Flipkart with batchmate Binny Bansal in 2007.

"This is still work in progress but it will become one of the big reasons for consumers to choose one way or another."

(Image credits: Indiatimes)