Unilever has used AI prior to now for different functions, equivalent to analysis into the intestine microbiome, biotechnology, and shopper communication. However the brand new lab is all about knowledge.
The AI Horizon3 Lab in Toronto, Canada will discover 15 predominant areas of focus. Most of those areas are nonetheless confidential, a Unilever spokesperson informed FoodNavigator, however some areas of focus have already been outlined, together with the three that can kick off the lab’s analysis: forecasting, modelling advanced knowledge relationships by way of graph know-how, and the technology of insights into developments, patterns and predictions.
The lab “will initially concentrate on the three which have the best potential for making a right away influence,” the spokesperson informed us.
“The purpose of the lab is to generate new ideas, designs, and initiatives that may be scaled and shared throughout the enterprise globally.
“AI, as you realize, is transferring at such a tempo that you will need to the enterprise that we allow our groups to not solely have a look at the present makes use of of AI, but in addition future enterprise instances. Unilever’s “Horizon3 Labs” characterize a rise in know-how funding that grew out of the corporate’s concentrate on using AI to extend productiveness and effectivity.
“At the moment, Unilever is utilizing this know-how throughout its enterprise, together with generative AI in its customer support and advertising and marketing, and superior analytics and machine studying in provide chain and logistics.”
The brand new lab will concentrate on is graph database functions, which is able to make sense of a lot of the corporate’s knowledge. “The simplicity with which these graph databases can characterize advanced knowledge provides many advantages equivalent to facilitating visible illustration of knowledge and relationships,” mentioned Gary Bogdani, Unilever’s Head of Information Science for North America and Canada D&A.
“They’ll additionally energy suggestion engines by figuring out connections between shoppers and merchandise, and assist collaborative and social functions by effectively managing connections between customers, posts and interactions.”
