How will artificial intelligence — Chat GPT and image-generating programs such as DALL-E — change the way the home furnishings industry does business? A handful of home décor executives, some of whom are experimenting with the technology and others who are still in watch-and-see mode, shared their thinking with Home Accents Today:
Jamie Merida
Bountiful Home
As far as it being an AI tool for writing and language, I don’t see it being an asset to us, but I am intrigued by AI photo generators as a brainstorming tool. Typing in a few prompts, like “pinecone toile” or “modern red living room” creates dozens of interesting results that could help sync a client’s vision with my design.
Maura Dineen
Creative director, Moe’s Home Collection
Moe’s is an innovative and forward-thinking company, always searching for new ways to approach our work. We’ve been utilizing AI across multiple teams, and Chat GPT has become another tool in our tool kit. Like any tool, it’s excellent for some things but not everything. Without giving anything away, we strive to provide a seamless experience using the most cutting-edge technologies, and Chat GPT is no exception. We’re excited to see how AI evolves in supporting our business.
Brian Berk
President, Howard Elliott Collection
I am not super familiar with the capabilities or limitations of Chat GPT. I think that it might be helpful for writing product content.
Brownlee Currey
President Currey & Company
It already has! Chat GPT can’t duplicate a specific written voice, but it is a whiz for keywording, formatting and laying out written documents. Personally, I’ve been using it since early this year to ease the writing process and get words on paper quickly. In the not-so-distant future, we will all be integrating software such as Chat GPT into our workflows, for a variety of purposes.
Alyssa Abrams
Marketing director, U.S., Eichholtz
At this time, no. We have an incredible team of customer service reps that are knowledgeable and friendly, but furthermore, are an extension of our brand experience. There is no replacement for human interaction when it comes to building relationships with customers!
Emma Lowry
Vice president of product development, Elk Home
Yes. Absolutely, there are a myriad of ways ChatGPT is going to change our business. I have been using it for marketplace analysis, meeting agendas and product descriptions. We are looking into how it could be used for digital marketing strategies, data analysis and the list goes on. We have also been playing around with DALL-E which generates AI images for new design concepts.
Pam Cain
President, Chelsea House
Chat GPT is one of the most mind-blowing technology releases I’ve seen, which is backed by both the number of users it’s generated quickly and the number of use cases it supports. Running a brand in the design industry requires a delicate balance of business savvy and design-eye, and there’s no doubt Chat GPT can make companies in any field more efficient and process-oriented. For every task it can easily handle, we free up more time to discover trends, design thoughtful and beautiful furnishings, and connect with our audience in meaningful ways. We’ve already begun using it!
Giovanni Marra
Director of marketing and digital strategy, Nourison
We’ve experimented with Chat GPT. It might help with research and some simpler tasks, but it can’t really write for you in your brand’s voice. It is interesting to test but we’ll keep focusing on our talented writers for our main content creation.
Shari Kline
Owner and creative director, TL at Home
If I’m being perfectly honest, I think I’d probably enjoy using it to help jumpstart the process of writing product descriptions. But I think overall it’s probably more insidious than helpful in the long run.
Monty Rathi
Chief operating officer, Kaleen
It’s an innovative idea and it definitely would help out our business as we continue growing. We haven’t experimented with it yet but we will soon, and we hope to find ways we could use it in the future.
Austin Craley
Vice president of sales, Loloi
I don’t know if it will be an asset, but it will change a lot in our industry, and quickly. Many jobs will become simpler and easier to do. The long-term implications are still to be determined.
Emily May
Director of advertising and public relations, Feizy
Yes, when you have a very small team, even having a rough draft of content created can be incredibly helpful. Some projects, like collection copy or brochure language for a specific program still require a lot of human oversight, but templated communications are a great way to embrace this new technology. I could really see this being helpful to distribute companywide communications, re-weather-related closures, changes in personnel and company policies.
Greg Jordt
Executive vice president Sales and marketing, Harounian Rugs International
The fact that I had to Google ‘ChatGPT’ probably tells you and me, that we will not be offering it any time soon. ChatGPT is a natural language processing tool driven by AI technology that allows you to have human-like conversations and much more with the chatbot. The language model can answer questions and assist you with tasks. At this time and in the foreseeable future, I don’t see how this technology will enhance the capabilities and the service of our current customer service department.
Ned Baker
Key account manager, Tamarian Rugs
I suppose it could be a tool for dealing with some of the “hard facts” of the rug industry; history, production info, sales/trend gathering, etc. But it seems to me there would be a limit in the creative aspects of the work and would remove the human interaction that is the “secret sauce” to the high-end rug market. I also feel something is lost in the “authenticity”, again, because the human element is removed. There is little left of a “journey” to achieve something, therefore less is learned, less is gained.
Source: homeaccentstoday.com