Instacart to add the ChatGPT bot to your app

Instacart is adding OpenAI’s ChatGPT chatbot technology to its app, jumping on the bandwagon of a number of companies doing the same — connecting the AI ​​language tool to offer automated customer service and marketing solutions.

The company’s “Ask Instacart” feature, which will launch later this year, allows customers to ask questions about groceries and meals and get shoppable answers. The technology uses ChatGPT with Instacart’s own artificial intelligence as well as extensive product data – drawing on information from more than 80,000 locations through the company’s retail partners.

Connected: With explosive growth, Instacart is waiting for the right time to IPO

“Grocery shopping can be emotionally draining and influenced by many factors such as budget, health and nutrition, personal taste, seasonality, culinary skills, prep time and recipe inspiration,” said JJ Zhuang of Instacart chief architect.

“What if artificial intelligence could take on that mental load and help the heads of household who are usually responsible for shopping, planning meals and putting food on the table – and actually make shopping fun?” Zhuang added.

Connected: Will Instacart Business Take Instacart to the Top? This is the goal.

With this move, Instacart joins companies like Meta, Shopify, BuzzFeed and others that already use ChatGPT technology in their customer service chatbots and content generation.

In 2022, Instacart’s revenue grew 50% in the fourth quarter of 2022, and The Wall Street Journal reports that the company posted $29 billion in sales last year (up 16% from fiscal 2021). .

Instacart recently announced that it is targeting small business owners with the launch of Instacart Business, which targets business owners, especially at the small and local level. Instacart CEO Asha Sharma was part of the development of Instacart Business, and she sees it as an ambitious move — one that will one day compete with the likes of Amazon and Walmart in the grocery and grocery market.

OpenAI is a San Francisco software startup launched in 2015 – the company sought to expand its reach by making it relatively easy to integrate ChatGPT software with third-party applications. To that end, OpenAI will allow companies like Instacart to build their own tools on top of ChatGPT’s software, OpenAI chairman, president and co-founder Greg Brockman told The Wall Street Journal.