Amazon has recently been making strides in the Fashion world with developments such as Amazon wardrobe. Thier newest offering, Echo Look, an Alexa fashion assistant that uses artificial intelligence to evaluate just how well someone looks in an outfit. While the assistant has been out for about a year – as of April 2017 to be exact – it has only been available to through invite. It has only recently become available to everyone within the last few weeks.
The eventual intention of Amazon is to pair the device with Amazon wardrobe. However, some are questioning whether or not the assistant can truly assess whether or not you look good.
The Echo Look App can categorize outfits into collections, based upon certain criteria such as seasonality, one’s own personal preferences (Determined through photos one uploads through Alexa), and any determined style.
Dozens of fashion specialists reportedly contribute their expertise to Echo Look’s fashion sense through fashion images. Yet, there is some speculation that there may be a bias within the human side of things that may affect Alexa’s own choices.
The fashion experts in question largely seem to live in the Seattle area, are mainly young women, and all have similar working experience at places like J. Crew, Nordstrom, Zulily etc.
Amazon has stated that they attempt to mediate any potential gaps in diverse understanding by providing training for their employees in order to help them gain sensitivity toward ethnicity or body diversity. However, Amazon has declined to share the exact details of this training.
Echo product management director Linda Ranz has said, “We want to make sure we’re not focused in one area or another, so it’s something that we do, both orientation as we bring someone on board and training. Because if you’re a stylist at Nordstrom’s you have a very specific target segment. Amazon by nature will appeal to a much broader set of customers, so it’s an ongoing set of work that we do within that group.”
However, as the app develops, particularly within these four weeks of wide use, it remains to be seen just what the full potential of Echo Look could be.
Featured Image via Flickr/Guillermo Fernandes
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