Podcast: Nitzan Mekel-Bobrov on AI, the Future of Shopping Online, and the Value of Building In-House

Summary

eBay Chief AI Officer Nitzan Mekel-Bobrov discusses his role, artificial intelligence’s changing landscape, and eBay’s position in ecommerce. He says the company’s powerful private cloud, combined with integration with public cloud providers, supports AI at scale and in real time. As a two-sided marketplace, eBay can apply AI to sellers and buyers through a magical listing tool for complex specifications, assistance finding hard-to-find items, and image generation that improves and expands user-provided visuals. For buyers, it can also interpret a vehicle problem, identify needed items and options, and present them without requiring a search through listings. Looking ahead, Mekel-Bobrov describes AI shopping assistants as category-informed chatbots that may act autonomously toward desired outcomes rather than merely execute assigned tasks.

Takeaways

1. 1

   eBay’s magical listing tool helps sellers create listings more easily, quickly, and enjoyably, including for items with complex specifications.

2. 2

   For buyers, AI can interpret a vehicle problem, identify needed items and available options, and present relevant choices without requiring them to skim listings.

3. 3

   Future AI shopping assistants are described as category-informed chatbots that can act autonomously and determine how to achieve a requested outcome.