42% of Australian orgs using AI in e-commerce

More than two in five (42%) Australian businesses are currently using AI to support their e-commerce operations, according to new research from PayPal.

The company’s 2023 PayPal eCommerce Index found that 43% of Australian consumers are meanwhile willing to use AI to help them shop online.

Today, only 18% of Australian consumers have used a generative AI tool, but that rises to 32% for Australians under 40 years old.

The top six uses for AI in e-commerce for Australian businesses today include writing web content (15%), providing personalised product recommendations (15%), creating visual design elements (14%), managing returns, exchanges or updates to consumers (14%), responding to social media comments or messages (13%), and detecting fake or auto-generated comments and reviews (12%).

PayPal GM for Australia Andrew Toon said the findings show that AI is already a normal part of many peoples’ day-to-day lives.

“AI will give consumers powerful tools to help them shop smarter. This includes sophisticated product discovery to find the best price, order the perfect size, and optimise and track shipping and delivery across multiple stores,” he said.

“But more than that, AI can deliver personalised product recommendations that suit our individual tastes and budgets. This tailored approach will help us find the ideal items while creating a more engaging and enjoyable shopping experience.”

But the report also identified concerns about the risks of AI, with 42% of consumers and 29% of businesses worried that biased programming could lead AI to make inaccurate recommendations.

Meanwhile, 34% of businesses are worried AI will lead to more sophisticated cybercrime, and 47% of consumers fear deepfakes will be used for fraud.

“AI-powered cyber attacks are unfortunately not relegated to the realm of science fiction, but a current reality. Using artificial intelligence, hackers can create programs that mimic known human behaviours,” Toon said.

“Those hackers can then use these programs to trick people into giving up their personal or financial information and potentially bypass traditional, rule-based fraud checks that businesses might have in place. The best way businesses can hope to counter AI cybercrime is with an AI-enabled risk prevention solution.”

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