Mikhail Konoplev via iStock/Getty Images Plus Mercari

Mercari , a digital marketplace for secondhand items announced this week the launch of a beta version of Merchat AI, a new virtual shopping assistant powered by artificial intelligence powerhouse, ChatGPT. 

The new Merchat AI feature is already live and available to customers to help them more easily navigate the site and quickly find what they're shopping for, as opposed to the time-consuming option of having to search and scroll through products.

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Mercari is an online store that welcomes users who want to sell or buy items secondhand items, much like a virtual thrift store. 

As generative AI models like ChatGPT, Bing Chat, and Google Bard have people reaching for conversational chatbots over search engines, apps like Mercari have opted to offer the AI chatbot option to customers as an alternative to its search feature. 

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Using ChatGPT to power Merchat AI gives Mercari the power of the large language model that has taken the world by storm. "With this technology, we're leveraging the transformative power of artificial intelligence to make it easier for Americans to shop and explore Mercari's extensive marketplace," explained Mercari U.S. CEO, John Lagerling.

"We anticipate that generative AI will also unlock more opportunities to iterate on our customer experience, along with additional ways to make the resale experience even more appealing to buyers and sellers," he added.

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When you choose the Merchat AI by going to Mercari.com/Merchat, you're able to have a real-time conversation with the AI chatbot and ask for what you're looking for with as little or as much detail as you'd like to include. 

The bot may respond with some clarifying questions to help narrow down the results it will show you, then go through the millions of Mercari listings to render the most accurate recommendations based on your expressed needs.

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