疫情改變消費者行為，人工智能也不靈了
Aaron Pressman
2020-09-28
過去幾年，許多以消費者為中心的企業已經開始使用人工智能來幫助自己提升銷售業績，而使用這一技術向消費者推薦的產品最終售出的概率也相對較高。
但隨著新冠疫情的爆發，由于相關軟件從未針對疫情造成的消費行為巨變進行訓練、無法適應新環境，人工智能系統也不得不進行大幅調整。
9月23日，在《財富》雜志組織的一次有關人工智能技術的在線討論中，埃森哲負責應用型智能事務的常務董事藍冠（音譯）說：“人工智能實際上是一種有生命的引擎?！?/p>
人工智能表現的優劣取決于數據的質量，因此在實際應用中也會遇到許多困難，許多使用此種技術的企業現在就碰到了一些問題。
服裝零售商StitchFix的數據科學總監塔齊亞納?馬斯卡萊維奇稱，疫情期間，許多客戶被迫居家辦公，客戶偏好也因此出現了巨大變化，比如上季度瑜伽褲、緊身衣和打底褲等運動休閑產品的銷量便飆升了350%。
StitchFix原本是借助人工智能向數千名設計師推薦服飾，再由造型師決定將哪些產品推薦給消費者，但疫情導致消費者的需求發生很大變化，而算法又沒有及時更新，造型師不得不提升自己預測消費者衣著偏好的能力。
馬斯卡萊維奇在《財富》雜志的活動中解釋說:“是員工的努力和良好的客戶關系讓我們得以（在疫情期間）很好地滿足了顧客的需求?！?/p>
社交媒體公司Facebook負責人工智能研究事務的聯合常務董事、麥吉爾大學的計算機科學教授喬爾?皮諾表示，疫情期間，陌生術語的突然出現也給負責翻譯貼文的人工智能系統造成了沖擊。
皮諾說:“與新冠疫情相關的表達對許多人來說都是新鮮事物。機器翻譯系統以前沒有錄入過相關術語，要想快速適應新環境，我們就必須擴展人工智能系統的能力邊界。”（財富中文網）
譯者：梁宇
審校：夏林
過去幾年，許多以消費者為中心的企業已經開始使用人工智能來幫助自己提升銷售業績，而使用這一技術向消費者推薦的產品最終售出的概率也相對較高。
但隨著新冠疫情的爆發，由于相關軟件從未針對疫情造成的消費行為巨變進行訓練、無法適應新環境，人工智能系統也不得不進行大幅調整。
9月23日，在《財富》雜志組織的一次有關人工智能技術的在線討論中，埃森哲負責應用型智能事務的常務董事藍冠（音譯）說：“人工智能實際上是一種有生命的引擎?！?/p>
人工智能表現的優劣取決于數據的質量，因此在實際應用中也會遇到許多困難，許多使用此種技術的企業現在就碰到了一些問題。
服裝零售商StitchFix的數據科學總監塔齊亞納?馬斯卡萊維奇稱，疫情期間，許多客戶被迫居家辦公，客戶偏好也因此出現了巨大變化，比如上季度瑜伽褲、緊身衣和打底褲等運動休閑產品的銷量便飆升了350%。
StitchFix原本是借助人工智能向數千名設計師推薦服飾，再由造型師決定將哪些產品推薦給消費者，但疫情導致消費者的需求發生很大變化，而算法又沒有及時更新，造型師不得不提升自己預測消費者衣著偏好的能力。
馬斯卡萊維奇在《財富》雜志的活動中解釋說:“是員工的努力和良好的客戶關系讓我們得以（在疫情期間）很好地滿足了顧客的需求。”
社交媒體公司Facebook負責人工智能研究事務的聯合常務董事、麥吉爾大學的計算機科學教授喬爾?皮諾表示，疫情期間，陌生術語的突然出現也給負責翻譯貼文的人工智能系統造成了沖擊。
皮諾說:“與新冠疫情相關的表達對許多人來說都是新鮮事物。機器翻譯系統以前沒有錄入過相關術語，要想快速適應新環境，我們就必須擴展人工智能系統的能力邊界?！保ㄘ敻恢形木W）
譯者：梁宇
審校：夏林
During the past few years, many consumer-focused businesses have used artificial intelligence to help increase sales. The technology, for example, can more successfully suggest products that online shoppers end up buying.
But once the COVID-19 pandemic hit, A.I. systems had to be overhauled. The software, it turns out, had never been trained with data reflecting a drastic upheaval in consumer behavior caused by the virus and therefore couldn't adjust to the new reality.
"A.I. is actually a living and breathing engine," Lan Guan, managing director of applied intelligence at Accenture, said on September 23 during an online discussion about A.I. organized by Fortune.
Many companies using A.I. these days are learning the hard way. It's just one of the wrinkles of using a technology that is only as good as the data fed into it.
Clothing retailer StitchFix saw huge shifts in the preferences of its customers, many of whom were forced to work from home during the pandemic, said Tatsiana Maskalevich, the company's director of data science. In just one example of that shift last quarter: Sales of athleisure like yoga pants, tights, and leggings surged 350%.
At StitchFix, A.I. helps recommend clothing to thousands of human stylists who ultimately decide which items to send to customers. The dramatic shift in what shoppers wanted due to the pandemic meant that those stylists had to better anticipate customers' taste in clothing because the algorithms were out of the loop.
"Having humans there and having that personal connection helped us to really bring our clients along," Maskalevich explained during Fortune's event.
At Facebook, A.I. systems that translate posts into different languages were suddenly hit by unfamiliar terminology during the pandemic, Joelle Pineau, co-managing director of A.I. research at the social media company and a computer science professor at McGill University, said.
"The language of COVID is a new language for many of us," Pineau said. "A machine-translation system did not have these terms before, so we really had to stretch what our A.I. systems were able to do to adapt very quickly to this new realty."
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