Next Generation of Live Streaming E-Commerce: Intelligence and Challenges

Live streaming e-commerce stands as one of the most revolutionary advancements in digital marketing and retail. The incorporation of artificial intelligence (AI) technologies into live streaming e-commerce platforms has profoundly altered how brands interact with consumers in real-time, enhanced personalization, and boosted conversion rates. This chapter delves into the convergence of AI and live streaming e-commerce, offering critical insights into how AI is shaping consumer experiences within live streaming e-commerce context. This chapter specifically discusses how AI is reshaping live streaming e-commerce through three key innovations. First, virtual streamers, which are AI-generated avatars, play a significant role. Second, AI streaming assistants, chat-based agents, are employed to address viewer queries in the comment section. Third, emotion and engagement analytics leverage AI-driven sentiment and clickstream analysis of viewer engagement to optimize content delivery. While AI serves to optimize personalization and operational efficiency, it also gives rise to concerns about trust reduction and privacy risks. The extensive collection of data from consumers poses privacy risks. Algorithmic targeting may exacerbate biases, and the opaque nature of AI algorithms makes accountability difficult to establish. The trust deficit caused by AI’s uncanny valley effect and service failures further hinders consumers’ acceptance of AI in live streaming e-commerce context.