Hyundai Home Shopping said Sunday it will air its first regularly scheduled sales program made entirely with artificial intelligence, in what the retailer calls a home shopping industry first.
The program, featuring Jeju Heart Gold kiwis, will air Monday at 3:20 p.m. on Hyundai Home Shopping PLUS#, the retailer’s data home shopping channel.
The system, called AI-REAL, generates entire broadcasts without human hosts or camera filming. Previous uses of AI in home shopping replaced individual scenes or presenters, the company said.
Hyundai Home Shopping expects the system to make product information easier to understand by depicting details that can be difficult to film, such as soil conditions where crops are grown and how products are distributed. AI-REAL can generate those visuals without separate shoots or physical props.
In a recent trial, participating suppliers’ costs for sample preparation, supplementary video production and related expenses fell by at least 80 percent compared with conventional production, the company said. Sales reached 120 percent of the target.
“Viewers told us the broadcast felt as natural as one with a human host, and that information such as growing conditions and cooking examples helped them decide whether to buy," said Lim Soo-jin, head of broadcast production at Hyundai Home Shopping.
The retailer plans to air at least one AI-generated program a month, starting with produce, meat and seafood. It plans to expand gradually into categories such as processed foods and household goods, where smaller suppliers have shown strong interest in selling through the retailer.
Lim Hyun-tae, head of channel strategy, said the company developed AI-REAL to support smaller suppliers and give customers a different shopping experience. He said Hyundai Home Shopping plans to expand the use of AI across its operations.
yejinlim@heraldcorp.com
