A boring problem in an AI costume

A US ecommerce client asked me to build a recommendation engine.

"Like Amazon."

Sure. Everyone wants the Amazon one.

Before quoting, I asked for one file. Their returns.

Roughly one in ten of everything they sold came back. And a third of those returns said the same thing in different words: it wasn't the size I expected.

You don't fix that with a recommendation engine. You fix that with a size chart that tells the truth and a photo that shows the product on a real body.

We did that first. Cheap. Two weeks.

Returns dropped. Margin went up. The owner asked when we'd start the AI project.

I told him we just finished it.

Most companies don't have an AI problem. They have a boring problem wearing an AI costume.

My job is to undress it.