The Fashion Industry May Soon Get Help From Artificial Intelligence

Not every development in the world of artificial intelligence needs to be feared. In most cases, these new technological tools will improve many aspects of our daily lives. Researchers at the University of California at San Diego have partnered with Adobe to create a new fashion-oriented AI. Not only will it learn about your personal fashion style, but it can also make suggestions based on your preferences. It’s an interesting development, to say the very least.

AI Continues to Evolve in Different Directions

There are many potential use cases for artificial intelligence; that much is evident. While there is plenty of focus on AI disrupting automation and even finance, Adobe has a very different plan. More specifically, it wants to help people upgrade their fashion sense by offering visual improvements to their clothing style. This will be done by teaching the AI about the end user and making suggestions based on his or her preferences. It’s an interesting option well worth exploring.

For retailers, this particular AI will have many benefits. Creating personalized pieces of clothing for different types of consumers could make a lot of retailers more appealing to the masses. Moreover, such technology could help predict broader fashion trends in the coming years.

According to researchers at UC San Diego, there are two different algorithms at work powering this AI solution. A convolutional neural network learns and classifies user preferences for specific items. That is done by scraping Amazon for one’s purchasing data in six different categories, including footwear and pants. This is not entirely new in the world of online retail, as models like this one have existed for quite some time now.

On top of this algorithm is a generative adversarial network, which is a type of AI that generates realistic images. It’s a vital technology when it comes to, say, suggesting new types of clothing to consumers. This is an interesting dual-pronged approach to making people more fashion-aware while allowing them to do their own thing. The latter technology is not new, as GANs were invented a few years ago.

This new approach to deciding what to wear could have a major impact in the fashion world. Online retailers should be able to figure out what customers want beyond items that already exist. There is no reason to force consumers into buying items they may like in design, but would love to see in a different color. People have shied away from creating their own clothing in a lot of cases, but this AI may make that a piece of cake. It is all about expressing oneself in every way possible, and individualism should be rewarded rather than punished.

And if you were concerned, it does not appear this new AI-based solution will displace stylists anytime soon. It may seem as if this technology was designed to replace stylists and fashion experts, but that was not the objective whatsoever. Fashion is certainly ripe for disruption by artificial intelligence, although the potential repercussions may not be visible just yet. It will be interesting to see how this situation evolves in the coming months and years.