• by Laurie Sullivan , Staff Writer @lauriesullivan, Yesterday

Glance, backed by Google and sister company to InMobi, has launched a platform for AI-driven commerce that maps an uploaded image of a consumer and matches it to shoppable products from retailers who sign up for the service.

The company has dedicated millions of dollars to build out its generative AI (GAI) technology for a variety of platforms such as smartphones and smart TVs.

“For more than two years, we’ve been trying to reimagine how the grow of generative AI will lead to a completely differing shopping experience,” says Abhay Singhal, co-founder and CEO of InMobi and Glance. “The internet will move from being personalized to personal.”

Singhal believes that powering the next big leap in commerce will not be search queries and feeds, but rather AI agentic agents, predictive intelligence and neural visualization driven by decades of global commerce data.

With user content, AI agents will scan the web looking for information to bring back to the consumer.

About one million users participated in the beta program in the U.S. within the past three to six months.

“The web will come to the consumer, rather than the consumer going to the web,” Singhal said.

The company’s vision puts Glance in partnerships with telecom original equipment manufacturers (OEMs), with its technology landing on the locked screens of mobile devices, television screens and set-top boxes.

Glance AI -- an app supported on Android and iOS that launched last week -- runs on an open architecture to recreate commerce.

While the app does not require consumers to enter queries or conduct searches, it does understand how to generate fashion looks that potentially lead consumers to discover and purchase new styles and brands.

Using advanced diffusion and geometry modeling, Glance AI serves up photorealistic renderings tailored to each user’s body, style, skin type and more. Every scene is algorithmically generated and unique, and the clothing is available for purchase at more than one retailer.

The approach comes from a consumer-led shift from those Gen Z and Millennials, for example, who think in images, not keywords, and would rather try on products virtually.

Consumers upload a photo, pick their body types from a list of images, and agree to a concept form. The app’s technology searches the web for styles and pieces of clothing and then generates styles and matches the clothing to the uploaded image of the consumer.

Purchases begin in Glance’s app or the merchant’s page through a browser plug-in. Products and clothing are pulled from many brands and retailers and aggregated into one place.

In the future, the company plans to expand into other products. The data makes the experience personal, and clothing merchants must opt in to the technology.

Many of InMobi’s and Glance’s operational teams are the same, but the two companies run on different profit-and-loss statements and optimization models.

While InMobi has its roots in in-app advertising, Glance supports GAI commerce. 

Glance AI can integrate with the InMobi DSP to find users on other platforms and in other apps. It also links apps with device IDs to connect the consumer experience across a variety of devices, for example, with third-party properties.

Singhal said other opportunities will emerge from inMobi and Glance innovations.   

Google also introduced and rolled out an AI-powered shopping feature at its annual I/O developer conference, which helps to find the perfect outfit. The feature is called Try It On, and it's available today in the U.S. through Google Search Labs.

For Google, it all starts with search. Shoppers can ask complex questions, such as what shoes pair well with a purple shirt and pants, and whether they will travel well in rainy climates. Google Pay users will have the ability for agentic agents to purchase products for them.