It is an innovation that some experts compare to the arrival of the Internet in the 1990s or smartphones at the beginning of the 20th century, which, each, transformed our way of buying, entertaining or informing us. For three years and the advent of the Chatgpt conversational robot, generative artificial intelligence has floods conversations, reshapes the way we work and opens up a field of possibilities that seems infinite. So far, its use has been reserved for computers and phones. Little by little, this technology, capable of generating on request text, images or even sound, incorporates other everyday objects, from household appliances to the car, passing by cycling. Manufacturers have seen it as a breakdown of rupture capable of relaunching consumption at half mast since the Cavid period and the inflationary crisis that followed it.
“Innovation is undeniably one of the drivers of consumption. But some customers rush into a new product as soon as it is released, while others are resisting change,” said Valérie Guillard, marketing professor at Paris Dauphine-Psl University. Will generative AI manage to bring the two camps together? In the past, the emergence of flat screens to the detriment of cathodic tubes had given a significant boost to the television market, which so skyrocketed for years. “When a technological revolution occurs, even in a mature segment where the equipment rate is very high, it can cause a real upheaval,” says the economist Flavien Neuvy, head of the Cetelem observatory.
The unexpected success of the Air Fryer – an oil -free fryer sold for the first time in France in 2023 – is the perfect example. “These are ultimately only compact ovens, but their ease of use explains their success. AI follows the same logic: manufacturers have every interest in integrating it into their products,” says Thierry Martin, engineer at the National Institute of Consumer Consumption (Inc). Conversely, 3D televisions, whose production was abandoned by the main industrialists in 2017, have never managed to make a place in homes. “However, they had to revolutionize viewing, but they suffered from the lack of content and the insufficient quality of experience,” recalls Alain Goudey, deputy director general in charge of digital technology of Neoma Business School.
The interconnection of objects will be the key
To convince consumers to go to AI, manufacturers of electronic equipment bet a lot on the interconnection of objects. Concretely, television, household appliances – oven, fridge, cooking plates … – and smartphones will communicate with each other, while collecting many data on the user to meet his needs. “The technological environment will become more and more personalized, with a more natural and intuitive interaction, simplifying a multitude of tasks and saving precious time. Previously, it was necessary to look for information in a user manual or light a computer. Now, everything becomes instant”, describes Thierry Martin de l’I inc. Let the television choose a film according to your preferences, order a taxi from its fridge, which will offer recipes according to its content …
These promises, more or less in the air for years, will know with AI a decisive turning point. “The idea of associating technology and food dates back to the 1990s, with learning systems already allowing to offer recipes adapted to the ingredients available”, recalls Jean-Gabriel Ganascia, computer teacher at the Faculty of Sciences of Sorbonne University. The smartphone, too, will not escape it. “Reserving a plane ticket will no longer imply launching an application and making around twenty clicks. Tomorrow, it will be enough to activate a voice command and the telephone will take care of everything. We are deleting all friction. This change will lead to a real re-equipment cycle”, wants to believe François Hernandez, vice-president of Samsung Electronics France. What horizon? “You have to be careful, technology often evolves faster than consumption habits,” warns Alain Goudey.
Brakes to lift
Several brakes should in any case be lifted. Only Premium products will include these innovations at first, before their distribution in the lower ranges. Nothing guarantees, moreover, that the giants like LG or Samsung, pioneers in this area, will win the match. In 1993, Apple launched Newton, one of the first electronic notebooks without keyboard, the ancestor of the tablet. The failure was bitter. “We often talk about the” law of the second arrival “: it is not necessarily the successful precursor, but the one who refines the concept”, notes Jean-Gabriel Ganascia.
In addition, the contributions of AI are not yet fully understood by consumers. “It is essential to clearly explain its real advantages, to arouse envy,” anticipates Fabien Seingier, director of LG consumer electronics. Finally, the question of privacy arises with acuity. “We will have to be ultra -sparent, because, with technology of this order, it takes devices capable of listening to what we do, to collect data on our habits and to analyze them,” specifies François Hernandez. An Orwellian universe in which the consumer will have to accept, or not, to immerse himself.
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