Apple Store app may soon get an AI-powered shopping assistant

Apple has updated the Apple Store app’s privacy policy, adding terms regarding a yet-to-be-released virtual shopping assistant. Here are the details.

As spotted by MacRumors, the Apple Store App & Privacy page now features a segment called Virtual Shopping Assistant, which says:

In other words, the Apple Store app may soon get a chatbot that will leverage user data to personalize its responses and help with purchase decisions.

Apple says it will remove personal identifiers before sharing chat content with unnamed partners that provide the assistant’s responses, which likely indicates that a third-party model from an outside company will power at least part of the experience.

Chat transcripts will remain available in the app for users to revisit and will also be retained for Apple’s business analytics. Users can separately opt in to allowing their conversations to be used to improve the virtual shopping assistant through a new Chat Improvements setting.

The wording in Apple’s privacy policy suggests that the virtual assistant will initially be available only in select countries and regions, potentially starting in English-speaking markets, before expanding to additional languages and locations.

Today’s news comes a few months after Apple added an AI-powered chatbot to its Sales Coach app, which provides sales and technical resources to the company’s retail partners. Accessible through an “Ask” tab, the chatbot answers questions using Apple’s official training materials and documentation.

It also comes after Bloomberg reported that Apple is testing a “Live Notes” system at select retail stores, using AI to record, transcribe, and summarize Genius Bar sessions so employees can focus on assisting customers rather than taking notes.

To learn more about the Apple Store App & Privacy, follow this link.

Do you think a chatbot in the Apple Store app will be useful? Let us know in the comments.