Chinese social media platform TikTok is testing a new artificial intelligence tool for its e-commerce marketplace, TikTok Shop. This tool will be able to scan videos, identify items and recommend users to buy similar products through the platform. Earlier, TikTok allowed creators to tag products in videos as part of its affiliate program. However, this new feature currently doesn’t involve creators and doesn’t promise a commission on sales that their video may help drive.
TikTok Shop AI product recommendation tool: Availability
According to a report by Insider, a TikTok spokesperson has confirmed that the AI toolis in its early stages.The company is currently experimenting with the tool with limited availability to a small subset of users in the US and UK, and it may never officially launch.
How it works
The company uses machine-object detection to identify products in videos and suggest similar product categories, the report added. As per the report, a shopping button has started appearing for some users on videos uploaded by them.

For example, if a user uploads a video of a Diwali event wearing a lehenga, the video will appear on the For You feed of other users. This AI feature will add options like finding “more wedding dresses on TikTok

Shop. The video will also include a Shop Now button that will open in the app’s Shop tab. However, by tapping this button users will be redirected to to the Shop home page and not a specific page for wedding dresses. The report adds that TikTok isn’t notifying users before using their videos for Shop.
Why TikTok is integrating shopping buttons on regular videos
The short video platform is integrating e-commerce into the app to improve the overall user experience. This AI tool is another step for the company to promote its shopping section. For that, TikTok has offered shipping deals and other discounts to sellers, paid bonuses to influencers who add affiliate links and launched a series of Black Friday and Cyber Monday incentives for merchants.
Apart from TikTok, there are social media platforms like YouTube and Instagram that also offer product tags in photos and videos. These apps have similar tagging features for users. Moreover, companies like Facebook, Snapchat, Pinterest, and Google have also used machine learning to visually identify products to offer better recommendations to users.