Introduction of AI Chatbot Search Function in Work Manual
Search Time Reduced from Minutes to Seconds
AI-Driven Image Creation Also Implemented
Plan to Introduce 'Differentiated AI Solution' in Second Half of Year
Lotte Department Store is introducing generative artificial intelligence (AI) to enhance work productivity.
On the 15th, Lotte Department Store announced that it plans to first apply generative AI to areas with high potential for work improvement and then expand its scope.
A department store employee conducting food hygiene management inspection using an artificial intelligence (AI) work manual. [Photo by Lotte Department Store]
First, a conversational AI chatbot will be introduced for the "work manuals." Over 100 internal work manuals will be categorized into five types, and the chatbot will operate based on Lotte Group's AI platform, "Aimember." The AI will autonomously find answers and provide information in categories such as welfare systems, accounting, product display, and food hygiene according to users' questions.
Lotte Department Store improved the slow search time, a drawback of the existing bulletin board-style work manuals, through AI. Additionally, by applying Retrieval-Augmented Generation (RAG) technology, the phenomenon of "hallucination," where incorrect information is provided, was minimized. In fact, after the work manual AI chatbot was launched on the 28th of last month, the time required to search for desired information was reduced by more than 90%, from several minutes to just a few seconds per query, Lotte Department Store emphasized.
Starting this month, the generative AI platform "ChatGPT" will also be integrated into the internal work collaboration tool. This also utilizes the ChatGPT function of Lotte Group's AI platform, Aimember. By applying the ChatGPT function to the internal collaboration tool "JANDI," employees can immediately use it for work as needed. Typical use cases include generating advertising copy, writing customized emails for partners, summarizing documents, and translating. According to Lotte Department Store, the average daily usage by employees has reached about 300 cases since the feature was made available.
Generative AI is also being used to create visual content. An example is the use of the generative AI "Midjourney" for visual production in "Lotte Wedding Members," Lotte Department Store’s wedding-specialized service, which was revamped on the 28th of last month. This significantly reduced production time while increasing the number of images produced by about 60%. Lotte Department Store plans to further expand the use of generative AI in areas requiring advertising and visual production.
Meanwhile, in the second half of the year, Lotte Department Store plans to introduce differentiated "AI solutions" in addition to generative AI. AI solutions will be utilized in environmental maintenance and safety management. This month, AI-based cleaning robots will be deployed at a total of 18 stores, including department stores, shopping malls, and outlets. In the second half of the year, intelligent closed-circuit televisions (CCTVs) based on AI algorithms will be introduced to strengthen security and safety management. The company is also considering pilot operation of AI quadruped patrol robots capable of autonomous driving within the year.
Jeon Se-jung, head of Lotte Department Store’s AI Task Force (TF) team, said, "Although it is still in the early stages, we believe that effectively utilizing generative AI can improve employee work efficiency by at least 10%." He added, "We will continue to expand AI adoption focusing on areas with high utility to establish our position as the department store with the best AI leadership in the retail industry."
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