Klarna unveils AI tool that lets shoppers find deals with just a photo

(Image credit: Klarna)

Artificial intelligence may be best known for powering chatbots like ChatGPT, but companies are looking at new ways to use it to make everyday tasks easier. Like shopping, for instance. A new AI tool lets you take photos of items like clothes and electronics to find out who sells them and who’s offering them at the best price. Potentially saving everyone involved a lot of time.

The ‘buy now, pay later’ company Klarna unveiled its new Shopping lens feature that uses photos of items you take to look for where they’re available for purchase. The app is able to identify over 10 million items be they clothes, home decorations, or electronics. Klarna will also show you similar items that match the style of the product you snap.

Alternatively, you can use Klarna to scan a product’s barcode to sift through customer reviews, other colors or variations of the same item available, and to find out if a product is sold cheaper anywhere else.

One of them is a cashback option for UK shoppers using the Klarna app. You can now earn up to 10% of your purchase amount back in the form of 'Klarna Cash' when choosing Pay Now, Pay in 3 or Pay Later at the checkout of retailers with active offers. The earnings can then be applied for a discount on their next purchase when checking out with Klarna.

Shoppable videos are also coming to the U.K., Germany, and Sweden after their success in the U.S. These videos introduce an element of social shopping as buyers watch unboxings, reviews, and product drops with the ability to buy the products featured in these videos. An AI-powered recommendation engine will be curating user feeds depending on their interests. According to Klarna, this algorithm increased the average viewer time in the US by 60%.

The company also plans to roll out a single sign-in solution so consumers can use Klarna logins at participating retailers. This, hopefully, should eliminate the need to create users and passwords for each individual store they shop at. But while helpful for the average consumer, as user data becomes increasingly valuable, companies may have to decide whether this is a feature that will be beneficial to them in the long run.

Klarna also says it's adding a new sustainability certification filter that can help people identify which products have sustainability certifications from Global Organic Textile Standard (GOTS), People for Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA), and Cradle to Cradle. The filters are available now in the UK, US, Sweden, Norway, and Denmark.

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Christoph Schwaiger is a journalist who mainly covers technology, science, and current affairs. His stories have appeared in Tom's Guide, New Scientist, Live Science, and other established publications. Always up for joining a good discussion, Christoph enjoys speaking at events or to other journalists and has appeared on LBC and Times Radio among other outlets. He believes in giving back to the community and has served on different consultative councils. He was also a National President for Junior Chamber International (JCI), a global organization founded in the USA. You can follow him on Twitter @cschwaigermt.