Shopify’s AI Bot for Merchants in Early Access

MetaversePlanet June 25, 2024

0 1 minute read

Shopify has announced a new update featuring artificial intelligence, now available for early access. As part of the “Summer 24 Release” updates revealed on Monday, Shopify introduced its new AI chatbot, Sidekick, which will provide sellers with support on various issues.

Shopify announces AI-driven updates

Shopify's AI Bot for Merchants in Early Access

Sidekick, first introduced by Shopify last year, serves as a support chatbot for sellers, assisting with tasks such as generating discount codes, creating store reports, and suggesting blog post ideas.

While it may seem like a typical AI chatbot, Sidekick could prove to be a valuable tool for merchants if Shopify continues to tailor it to their needs.

Vanessa Lee, Shopify’s Vice President, mentioned that Sidekick is currently live in thousands of Shopify stores but is limited to merchants with English-language stores in North America. For those without Sidekick who want to try it out, they can sign up for early access. Lee also indicated that the company plans to roll it out in other languages and regions in the future.

AI-powered product categorization is another feature that promises to save sellers significant time. When creating a product listing, Shopify’s AI can automatically suggest the product’s classification, which can be manually adjusted if needed.

Additionally, another AI tool will offer suggested responses for customer chats received through Shopify Inbox. While Shopify is exploring the possibility of having AI chatbots interact directly with customers on behalf of merchants, they currently prefer to keep a human in the loop until they are confident in the technology.

Shopify is also extending its AI-powered visual builder, launched in January, to its iOS and Android apps, enabling merchants to use it more broadly. The company reported that Shopify merchants have saved over 1 million AI-generated images in the past six months.