Retail technology innovation of the week: Wiliot launches supply chain focused WiliBot GenAI chatbot

Retail Technology Innovation of the Week is a series brought to you by RTIH and sponsored by 3D Cloud, highlighting stand out deployments, launches, and initiatives by retailers and tech suppliers.

Every week, we will showcase forward thinking tech plays that have impressed our Editor and the Retail Technology Innovations Report judging panel, alongside the publication of the 2024 report.

So far, we’ve flagged up sterling work being done by Ocado Retail, Decathlon, Lacoste, Downtown Spirits, TalkShopLive, Huck’s, Rovertown, Wing, Nobody’s Child, IKI, Pixevia, A.L.C., Archive, Therabody, Outform, Kingfisher, PMC, Boots UK, Ocula Technologies, Grace O'Malley Irish Whiskey, Metacask, Ikea, Carrefour Belgium, Matalan, and McDonald’s.

And this week we’re focusing on Wiliot, which has announced the launch of WiliBot, a generative AI (GenAI) chatbot that enables natural language conversations with any ambient IoT connected product.

Companies will be able to converse with their products and supply chains by asking questions such as: What’s the shelf life of this product? How did it get to the store? Which product should I stock next, and why? Is this product safe to stock, and why? What is the carbon footprint of this product, and why is it so low or so high? 

“Ambient IoT and generative AI are increasingly symbiotic technologies,” says Wiliot CEO Tal Tamir.

“Ambient IoT generates vast amounts of data about trillions of everyday things, and GenAI can uniquely make sense of all that data. On the flipside, GenAI learns by analysing vast amounts of data.”

“To a real extent, that data has so far been finite, but ambient IoT presents massive new physical world datasets that a GenAI platform like WiliBot - and others - can use to describe products, materials, supply chains, and everything connected to the internet.”

Wiliot’s Ambient Data Platform uses stamp sized, self-powered IoT Pixels affixed to products, packaging, containers, crates, pallets, and more.

These IoT Pixels communicate via Bluetooth information such as location, temperature, humidity, and carbon footprint to the Wiliot cloud where businesses analyse the data. 

Wiliot developed AI and machine learning algorithms can then identify supply chain “events” and automatically generate alerts or AI responses that allow business to course correct or optimise their operations, like when sensing that shipments of produce or pharmaceuticals have been handled at unsafe temperatures.

“Although our work in generative AI is relatively recent, the company has long been a pioneer in artificial intelligence and machine learning for deriving insights into ambient IoT data,” says Tamir.

“As more companies have begun rolling out our Ambient Data Platform, we’ve been asked how GenAI capabilities might make the transformation even easier. Our answer is WiliBot, the real-world combination of ambient IoT and AI.” 

Wiliot is now piloting WiliBot with key enterprise customers, with a broader roll-out scheduled for late 2024 and into 2025.

During the piloting phase, WiliBot will be used by businesses seeking to ask questions about their ambient IoT enabled products and supply chains. 

In the future, this convergence of ambient IoT and generative AI will be made available to consumers in-store and at home through an ecosystem of mobile apps – enabling consumers to speak to and converse with their products to better understand their carbon footprint, materials composition, ethical sourcing compliance, quality and safety etc.

“Our Ambient Data Platform already allows companies to gain unprecedented intelligence about trillions of products,” says Tamir.

“Now more businesses – and in the future consumers – will be able to ask about and easily understand everything about those products. With WiliBot, we’re answering the question, ‘What if your products could talk?’ Now they can, in natural language, thanks to WiliBot.”

2024 RTIH INNOVATION AWARDS

GenAI is a key focus area for the sixth edition of the RTIH Innovation Awards, which is now open for entries.

The awards, sponsored by CADS, 3D Cloud, and Retail Technology Show 2025, celebrate global tech innovation in a fast moving omnichannel world.

Key 2024 dates

Friday, 25th October: Award entry deadline 

Tuesday, 29th October: 2024 shortlist revealed

30th October-6th November: Judging days

Thursday, 21st November: Winners announced at the 2024 RTIH Innovation Awards ceremony, to be held at RIBA’s 66 Portland Place HQ in Central London.