GANDT Fireside Chat #038 | News Roundup and Facebook AI GrokNet

True to our motto “Working Out Loud”, we at GANDT Ventures exchange our thoughts and ideas on current news topics. The topics from around the world ranges from online marketing, digital retail to e-commerce. This helps us uncover opportunities that can be used for companies and our clients as part of our daily business. But most of all, it is a lot of fun and a great way to share knowledge.

Our podcast chats are available to anyone who is interested what Google, Facebook, Amazon and co. are up to.

News Round | WhatsApp, Amazon and Corona warning app

In our daily news round we update on the latest topics around the digital world.

Facebook has now made it into the news with its messenger app WhatsApp, as they have integrated a payment function in Brazil and India. This new feature is intended to compete with the in Asia widely used app WeChat.
It remains to be seen to what extent this function will also be rolled out in the Western world.
You can read up on what you need to know about the launch of the WhatsApp payment function in Remco’s blog article.

No positive news from Amazon

Amazon has also made it back into the news – but this time with no positive news:
The EU is now likely to accuse Amazon of anti-competitive behaviour. This could cost Amazon a lot of money and change the shopping experience it offers its customers.
One of the main concerns to be resolved is whether Amazon is unfairly exploiting its dominant role. The company operates both the online shop and also sells its own products on its platform – so Amazon is virtually player and referee at the same time.
We will follow the trial, which is likely to be lengthy, and we are curious to see the result.

It took a while, but now it’s here: the German Corona Warning app.
The app realizes whether users have come closer than about two meters over a longer period of time. If one of the users has tested positive and shares this in the app, the app will send a message to all users who have been close to that person.
The development costs amount to around 20 million euros.
The prerequisite for this warning to work is that as many people as possible install the app.
Check out our Fireside chat when we talk about the app and our personal opinion.

Facebook AI GrokNet should make everything for sale in the future

Simultaneously with the launch of the Facebook Shops, about which we have already reported, the social media network has launched another feature: the AI GrokNet.

This so-called “product recognition model” is supposed to be able to identify products on the site using artificial intelligence. It should then be possible to purchase them.

This is nothing really new: Amazon and Ebay have also been using image recognition software for some time. However, the functionalities of Facebook are expected to go much further than all previous versions on the market.

The long-term vision of the group is accordingly ambitious: At the end of the day, there should be a platform on which any product that can be recognized in a photo or in a video and then be purchased by users, provided it is available in one of the shops.

Currently, AI GrokNet is already active in the Marketplace and helps users there with the integration of products. Here the AI proposes a suitable description for an uploaded product photo.

In addition, it is also conceivable to use AI GrokNet in the business environment. For example, if a photo is uploaded showing one of the products already in the shop, the AI can recognize it, tag it and link it directly to the shopping page.

We look forward to the future together with Facebook and discuss in our Fireside Chat about possible implementation variants of this feature.

Agenda | GANDT Fireside Chat Video #038