Amazon Launches AI-Powered StyleSnap Fashion Search Feature for Its Official App

Amazon.com on Wednesday introduced StyleSnap, a feature on its app that allows users to upload a picture of a look or style they like and get recommendations for similar items on the platform. When providing recommendations, StyleSnap considers a variety of factors such as brand, price range, and customer reviews, the company said in a blog post.

Shoppers "struggle to find styles they can't describe in words," Jeff Wilke, Amazon's CEO of consumer business, said while introducing the service at the company's "re:MARS" conference on artificial intelligence in Las Vegas.

“StyleSnap, an AI-powered feature, helps you shop – all you need to do is take a photograph or screenshot of a look that you like,” Amazon noted in a blog post.

Amazon.com also announced new drones that will deliver packages to customers in 30 minutes or less in the coming months, a step toward a goal that has eluded the retailer for years.

The new drone takes off and lands vertically like a helicopter, is more stable than prior models and can spot moving objects better than humans can, making it safe, Jeff Wilke, the chief executive of the company's consumer business, said at the conference.

Wilke did not say where customers might see the drone in action, but Amazon made its first customer delivery by drone in the United Kingdom in 2016.

Other announcements included a new warehouse sorting system already live in Denver, Colorado that relies on small robotic vehicles topped with miniature conveyor belts that take packages to the correct chutes for delivery. These, and another robot Amazon unveiled, are updates to the Kiva “drive units” the company acquired years ago.

Users of Amazon's voice-controlled speakers may also see updates through “Alexa Conversations,” which the company announced so developers make their services on the virtual assistant Alexa more conversational. This follows work Amazon has done on the topic of conversational AI with university researchers.

Written with inputs from Reuters