Grocery delivery specialist Instacart said it has enhanced its product search capabilities by incorporating the language understanding functionality of OpenAI’s ChatGPT platform.
“This first-of-its-kind AI-powered search tool is designed to assist with customers’ grocery shopping questions—saving them time, inspiring their routine, and helping them make food-related decisions by offering personalized recommendations throughout the shopping experience,” a spokesperson for Instacart told SFA News Daily.
The Ask Instacart tool, which will be available in the existing search bar in the Instacart app, will allow customers to search for information such as food preparation tips, product attributes, dietary considerations, and other information. It will also incorporate personalized question prompts that anticipate customers’ preferences, make suggestions based on their shopping history, and highlight promoted products.
“In the coming weeks, sponsored product campaigns will automatically be integrated directly into the Ask Instacart results,” the Instacart spokesperson said. “Today, when customers search with Ask Instacart and click to ‘show more’ results, the carousels and search results pages will include sponsored products from existing ad campaigns.”
The new feature launched on a limited basis and is rolling out to customers nationwide, Instacart said.
Ask Instacart combines the language understanding capabilities of Open AI’s ChatGPT platform with Instacart’s own AI and its database of more than one billion items available at 80,000 of its retail partner stores.
The company offered some suggestions about the types of questions users could pose to Ask Instacart, such as:
• “What kind of side dishes should I serve with lamb chops?”
• “What are good sauces for grilling chicken?”
• “What can I use in a stir fry?”
• “What are dairy-free snacks for kids?”
• “What are the best veggies to roast?”
Earlier this year, Instacart began rolling out an Instacart plug-in for ChatGPT users, but this newest in-app rollout will make the AI functionality available to all Instacart users.
Instacart said it plans to launch additional plugins with the Microsoft Bing and Google Bard search engines in the coming months.
Instacart’s moves come as AI—and especially generative AI, which can create realistic images and other content based on just a suggested phrase—receives increasing scrutiny. Instacart, which appears to be one of the first food companies to implement generative AI in a consumer-facing environment, said it is taking a cautious approach to the new tech.
“At Instacart, we know that generative AI technology is still in its early stages, so Ask Instacart is a highly specialized model designed to only respond to relevant food-related questions,” the company said. “Instacart is committed to incorporating AI features into our products in a responsible manner, with a goal of enhancing the overall Instacart shopping experience and delivering more food inspiration to customers.”
The company also noted in a blog post that it has long used AI behind the scenes to make its operations more efficient and enhance customer service.
“AI has been central to everything we do for years,” said JJ Zhuang, chief architect at Instacart. “From matching shoppers to available batches and delivery windows to helping customers find the right replacements for low-stock items and serving up personalized ads that match exactly what customers need, AI powers the Instacart experience from start to finish.”
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