Shopify Announces Early Access for AI ‘Sidekick’ Chatbot Designed for Merchants

Shopify is introducing its new AI-powered "Sidekick" chatbot, officially launching in early access as part of the "Summer ‘24 Edition" updates. Announced earlier, Sidekick serves as a support tool for merchants, enabling tasks such as creating discount codes, generating store reports, and suggesting blog post ideas. While this may seem typical for an AI chatbot, its tailored functionality could offer valuable assistance to merchants.

Currently, Sidekick is available across thousands of Shopify stores but is limited to English-speaking merchants in North America. Shopify plans to expand this feature to other languages and regions.

In addition to Sidekick, Shopify is unveiling several other AI initiatives. One notable feature is AI-powered product categorization, which can significantly streamline the product listing process. As merchants create listings, Shopify’s technology suggests appropriate taxonomies to improve discoverability. Merchants can modify suggestions if necessary.

Another feature will provide suggested replies for customer chats via Shopify Inbox. While these suggestions will need final approval from the merchants, there's potential for future AI responsiveness on behalf of the merchants, though Shopify prioritizes maintaining human oversight for now.

Lastly, Shopify is expanding access to its AI-powered image generator, which initially launched in January, now available on iOS and Android apps. Over the past six months, Shopify merchants have saved more than 1 million AI-generated images.

These advancements mark a significant step in enhancing the merchant experience through AI technology.