Zalando uses AI to speed up marketing campaigns, cut costs
FILE PHOTO: Zalando packaging from an online delivery is seen discarded in a cardboard box in Galway, Ireland, August 27, 2020. Picture taken August 27, 2020. REUTERS/Clodagh Kilcoyne/File Photo
LONDON (Reuters) -European online fashion retailer Zalando is using generative artificial intelligence to produce imagery faster for its app and website, it said on Wednesday, as AI shakes up the fashion industry and cuts costs.
Zalando, which sells branded clothes, shoes, and accessories across 25 markets in Europe, is using AI to produce imagery quickly enough to respond to short-lived fashion trends spread on social media. It is also developing AI-generated "digital twins" of models to use in its marketing.
"We are using AI to be able to be reactive," Matthias Haase, vice president of content solutions at Zalando, told Reuters in an interview.
Using generative AI cuts the time needed to produce imagery to around three to four days from six to eight weeks, and reduces costs by 90%, Haase said, adding the AI-generated content drives greater engagement from customers.
"It's not because of AI content that is better than human-created content, it is really about how new, how relevant it is to our customers," Haase added.
Around 70% of Zalando's editorial campaign images were AI-generated in the fourth quarter of last year as it has increased use of the technology. AI-generated images illustrated Zalando's recap of the year's biggest trends, including "brat summer", "mob wife", and double denim.
For an industry used to costly, meticulously planned fashion shoots on sets or in far-flung locations, the prospect of using AI to speed up production and use marketing money more efficiently is of particular appeal to retailers with far smaller budgets than the big, luxury players.
Zalando is the latest retailer to try out AI-generated digital twins of models, after Sweden's H&M in March said it created digital twins in collaboration with a modelling agency.
The AI-generated three-dimensional replicas enable Zalando to feature a model in a campaign and show an exact replica of that model in the app's product pages, without needing to take hundreds of photos.
Asked how generative AI could affect job prospects for fashion photographers, Haase said traditional fashion shoots will still be needed, but that photographers and other creatives will also have to adapt to using AI tools.
"Creative people fear that AI makes creatives redundant," Haase said. "I don't see that at all, to be honest... I see it rather that creative minds have now, instead of two hands, six hands."
(Reporting by Helen Reid; editing by Barbara Lewis)
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
New Straits Times
2 hours ago
- New Straits Times
Nato chief urges 400pct rise in alliance's air defence
LONDON: Nato head Mark Rutte on Monday urged a "quantum leap" in defence capabilities including a "400-per cent increase" in air and missile defence to shield the alliance against Russia. His comments came as he pushes for Nato members to commit to ramping up defence spending at a key summit of the western military alliance later this month. "We see in Ukraine how Russia delivers terror from above, so we will strengthen the shield that protects our skies," the Nato secretary general said in a speech to the Chatham House think-tank in London. To maintain credible deterrence and defence, Nato needs "a 400-per cent increase in air and missile defence", the former Dutch prime minister added. "The fact is, we need a quantum leap in our collective defence," he said. Rutte is urging Nato members to commit to 3.5 per cent of GDP on direct military spending by 2032, and an additional 1.5 per cent on broader security-related expenditure. The proposal is a compromise deal designed to satisfy US President Donald Trump, who has demanded that allies each spend five per cent of economic output on defence, up from a current commitment of two per cent. Rutte said he "expects" leaders to agree to the proposal at the summit of the 32-country alliance on June 24-25 in The Hague. "It will be a Nato-wide commitment and a defining moment for the alliance," he said in his speech. Russia condemned Rutte's comments before he took to the stage, denouncing Nato as "an instrument of aggression". Nato "is demonstrating itself as an instrument of aggression and confrontation", Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told reporters in Moscow. Rutte's speech came after he met UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer on Monday, their second Downing Street talks since the Labour leader came into power in July 2024. Starmer's government this year pledged to increase defence spending to 2.5 per cent of GDP by 2027, but has not yet set a firm timeline for further hikes. On Monday, Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney announced Canada would hit two per cent this year. US Secretary of Defence Pete Hegseth said last week the allies were close to an agreement on the split five-per cent target. "That combination constitutes a real commitment, and we think every country can step up," he said on Thursday. Nato members have been scrambling to bolster their defence capabilities since Russia launched its invasion of Ukraine in February 2022. Trump's return to the White House in January, and question marks over his commitment to European security, has added urgency. "Danger will not disappear even when the war in Ukraine ends," Rutte said at Chatham House. "We must have more forces and capabilities to implement our defence plans in full." He added that Russia currently produces the same amount of ammunition in three months as "the whole of Nato produces in a year". "Our militaries also need thousands more armoured vehicles and tanks, millions more artillery shells," Rutte added. Britain announced plans last week to build up to 12 nuclear-powered attack submarines and six munitions factories to rearm the country in response to what it said were threats from Russia. Rutte also warned that China is "modernizing and expanding its military at breakneck speed". "Nato has to become a stronger, fairer and more lethal alliance," he added. And he warned that if countries cannot commit to 5.0 per cent for defence spending "you could still have the National Health Service, or in other countries, their health systems, the pension system, etc, but you better learn to speak Russian. I mean, that's the consequence". - AFP
Free Malaysia Today
3 hours ago
- Free Malaysia Today
Getty says its landmark UK copyright case doesn't threaten AI
Getty produces editorial content and creative stock images and video. (EPA Images pic) LONDON : Getty Images' landmark copyright lawsuit against artificial intelligence company Stability AI began at London's high court today, with Getty rejecting Stability AI's contention the case posed a threat to the generative AI industry. Seattle-based Getty, which produces editorial content and creative stock images and video, accuses Stability AI of using its images to 'train' its Stable Diffusion system, which can generate images from text inputs. Getty, which is bringing a parallel lawsuit against Stability AI in the US, says Stability AI unlawfully scraped millions of images from its websites and used them to train and develop Stable Diffusion. Stability AI – which has raised hundreds of millions of dollars in funding and in March announced investment by the world's largest advertising company, WPP – is fighting the case and denies infringing any of Getty's rights. Before the trial began today, Stability AI's spokesman said 'the wider dispute is about technological innovation and freedom of ideas'. 'Artists using our tools are producing works built upon collective human knowledge, which is at the core of fair use and freedom of expression,' the spokesman said. In court filings, Stability AI lawyer Hugo Cuddigan said Getty's lawsuit posed 'an overt threat to Stability's whole business and the wider generative AI industry'. Getty's lawyers said that argument was incorrect and their case was about upholding intellectual property rights. 'It is not a battle between creatives and technology, where a win for Getty Images means the end of AI,' Getty's lawyer Lindsay Lane told the court. She added: 'The two industries can exist in synergistic harmony because copyright works and database rights are critical to the advancement and success of AI… the problem is when AI companies such as Stability want to use those works without payment.' Wider impact Getty's case is one of several lawsuits brought in Britain, the US and elsewhere over the use of copyright-protected material to train AI models, after ChatGPT and other AI tools became widely available more than two years ago. Creative industries are grappling with the legal and ethical implications of AI models that can produce their own work after being trained on existing material. Prominent figures including Elton John have called for greater protections for artistes. Lawyers say Getty's case will have a major impact on the law, as well as potentially informing government policy on copyright protections relating to AI. 'Legally, we're in uncharted territory. This case will be pivotal in setting the boundaries of the monopoly granted by UK copyright in the age of AI,' Rebecca Newman, a lawyer at Addleshaw Goddard, who is not involved in the case, said. Cerys Wyn Davies, from the law firm Pinsent Masons, said the high court's ruling 'could have a major bearing on market practice and the UK's attractiveness as a jurisdiction for AI development'.
Malaysian Reserve
6 hours ago
- Malaysian Reserve
UK's AI talent is envy of world and needs support, Nvidia CEO says
NVIDIA Corp. Chief Executive Officer Jensen Huang described the UK's artificial intelligence talent as the 'envy of the world,' specifically calling out its researchers, universities and startups. But he said the country needs to more infrastructure to unlock their potential. 'The UK is in a Goldilocks circumstance' with good conditions for AI companies to thrive, Huang said in a conversation with UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer at the start of London Tech Week on Monday. 'This is the largest AI ecosystem in the world without its own infrastructure.' The type of AI models powering generative tools such as ChatGPT require a tremendous amount of so-called compute capacity from massive data centers to both build and process the inquiries from millions of users around the world. Those data centers in turn need abundant electricity, water and other infrastructure. In an acknowledgment of the support required, Starmer announced on Monday an extra £1 billion ($1.4 billion) of funding to 'scale up our compute power by a factor of 20' and improve infrastructure for building out artificial intelligence in the UK. The government also announced a partnership with Nvidia to help train more people in AI skills and expand research. Europe has struggled to compete with the US and China in producing groundbreaking generative AI companies and spurring as much data center development as its rivals. Huang is touring the continent this week, where he's described 'umpteen AI factories being planned' in the region. He is also expected to speak at Paris's VivaTech on Wednesday and will be visiting and meeting with leaders in the UK, Germany, France and Belgium. 'The thing that is quite extraordinary and is an incredible opportunity for the UK: AI is a technology, but is also an infrastructure because it affects so many industries simultaneously,' Huang said. 'Because this technology is so broad and so transformative to every single industry, it will be considered infrastructure just as electricity was.' The UK's Financial Conduct Authority also announced on Monday that it was setting up a so-called regulatory sandbox to allow financial firms to experiment with AI using Nvidia's technology. These sandboxes let firms with new ideas at the intersection of finance and technology test their products and services before fully launching them. Liquidity, a startup lender, will also set up a European headquarters in London and has committed to investing £1.5 billion in companies in the next five years. –BLOOMBERG
