Notes from session AZ664: Bring a Customer Mindset into the World of Machine Learning and Artificial Intelligence

Speaker: Sonu Durgi — Director of Product Management, Search (Walmart Labs)

Summary: Traditional Machine Learning and AI products have limited customer mindset during conceptualization of model which poses limitations on the desired outcome. In real world search, 60% of customers express search intent & 40% don’t express clearly what they are looking for. Walmart samples 6.4B queries annually. To tackle such customer challenges, Walmart applies new approaches of multi-objective optimization in ML.

What is the role of a Product Manager in Machine Learning? Observe past behavior to identify future trends of customers.

• Similar product — HBO’s Recommended by Humans platform. This platform gives people the ability to make a personal connection to others by telling them about shows/movies they have watched.

Speaker also gave examples of customizing shopping experience for each customer. For example, her mother would go to store to shop. She would use an app to order products and her daughter would use a device like Alexa. Since each customer is different, they should have varying customer experiences.

When customers identify what they need (i.e. Coffee maker). Help the customer identify the product they want based on description

Final Thought: Customer empathy is the true north star!

Session ended at 3:30 EST.