JD.com showcases the power of AI through its latest AI Accelerator demo day

China’s largest retailer, JD.com, has just completed the first demo day of its artificial intelligence (AI) accelerator, demonstrating new real-world applications of AI.

Launched last August, the accelerator serves as a major incubator for AI startups and early-stage companies.

The demo day featured a host of startups spanning industries such as retail, legal, healthcare and education, among others.

Through the accelerator, FaGouGou, a provider of AI-powered legal consultancy services, worked closely with JD.com to develop an innovative chatbot for merchants requiring legal advice and services.

Using JD.com’s speech recognition technology, AI algorithms and legal databases, the platform has already been used by many of JD.com’s suppliers, merchants, and partners.

“We’re thrilled to work with JD.com to use AI to advance legal services,” said Alex Liu, CEO of FaGouGou.

“JD.com is leading the pack when it comes to real world application of technology, especially in AI. Leveraging JD’s immense resources made it possible for us to turn our idea of AI-driven legal consultancy services into a reality.”

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Another startup which was seen at the demo day was Chinese wine app 9KaCha, which uses AI to help make wine shopping easier.

The app combines JD.uses SnapShop technology, a 24/7 shopping consultant which allows users to upload photos and uses AI to analyse them and provide recommendations.

It's also able to recognise thousands of wines based on an extensive database and is able to provide information about each wine such as its type, origin, colour and taste.

“JD’s AI accelerator program has empowered us to take our business to new heights,” said Zhifeng Dong, Co-founder of 9KaCha.

“Working with JD has enabled us to tap into the rapidly growing demand for fine wines among JD’s more than 300 million customers.”

Through the AI Accelerator programme, JD.com offers a range of support including training and mentoring in research and development, product, management, financing, legal, marketing, and other areas as well as technical support such as APIs, algorithms, and databases to facilitate improvements in their technologies.

The Chinese retailer has already announced the second round of startups in the AI Accelerator.

The next accelerator will include 17 startups including 3D vision technology provider Huajie IMI and leading online video platform, Zen Video.