Generative AI has since it introduction with the first chatGPT and the early image generation tools always peaked my interest, these first few public tools were, tbh, not great. Early AI chat tools like chatGPT suffered from severe hallucinations where they pretty much just filled in whatever agreed with your prompt no matter how ridicoulous. And for the image generators your imagination as to interpret the generated image was doing more work than the AI.
However, since then genAI has come a long way to the point I use it frequently and even for some university assignments, since more and more courses have adopted an open-minded approach to the use of genAI tools. The new spaces where AI has been introduced are also especially helpfull, for example in coding. Using Cursor AI which is a program build on visual studio offering a similar experience but with AI tools weaved troughout the user experience, I managed to create a very decent prototype of a note taking app that I wanted to use on my laptop. Altough the initial output came together in a couple of minutes the outcome was less usefull than I imagined so I scrapped the idea.
Another field which has been quick to adopt AI is the image editing software Photoshop. As a hobby I will make phone backgrounds or online profiles to share or sell online, AI tools in photoshop have become a life-saver to quickly edit images, remove items from them or easily add in new items. In Photoshop these AI tools really take alot of the cumbersome repetitive clone-stamping out of the picture allowing users like me to focus on the more fun part of creating.
I’m excited about the future of genAI since it’s already been progressing so rapidly, in the last couple of years it has transformed from a gimmick to a technology worth taking a second look at.
Digital disruption in the Dutch supermarket space
1
November
2024
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Digital disruption is really affecting the Dutch supermarket sector. Big players like Albert Heijn and Jumbo are expanding on their existing markets with new digital tools such as Albert Heijns app and the digital self-checkout. The latter of which is becoming more and more prevelant and controversial with mistakes leading to pretty nasty consequences for innocent customers. (Van Kampen, 2024)
New digital entrants are showing up to the scene like Picnic and Flink, these companies are competing with these big chains with a completely new business model existing only trough their platform where customers can interact with the supermarkets. They offer a mobile-only experience with a focus on sustainability and creating a streamlined time-saving experience for customers. Flink focusses mainly on quick last-minute groceries while Picnic focus shifts more towards weekly groceries for young families as seen in their latest ad campaign. (Picnic, 2024)
These new players have leveraged their digital business models by cutting the physical stores out of their supply chain and as such are reducing the cost of providing groceries to people. As these new platforms continue to affect customer expectations of what a supermarket can be this change illustrates the need for flexibility of the current players. This can be seen in the response from Albert Heijn which has chosen to reply by copying the same strategy that these new entrants have shown, providing online delivery trough their existing app.
I think it’s interesting to see how this space is affected by using existing digital technology but adapting it to create a new business model in a long existing space. Do you think that we will see further growth of the new players or will the current players envelop these new ideas into their platforms even further and win the competition using their existing resources?
Van Kampen, J. (2024, 18 oktober). Marianne (63) uren in de cel na foutje bij zelfscankassa. RTL Nieuws & Entertainment. https://www.rtl.nl/nieuws/economie/artikel/5475701/marianne-uren-de-cel-na-foutje-bij-zelfscankassa
Picnic. (2024, 4 oktober). Heb jij onze nieuwe Weekplanner al gezien? 🍝👀 [Video]. YouTube. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4kw05xoVXfc
ElderWatch: An AI-driven solution for elderly care
18
October
2024
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Put yourself in the shoes of a senior spending his retirement days in a long-term care facility. Aside from meals in the common room, the highlight of your day is a fleeting visit from an overworked caregiver quickly checking your vitals before rushing off to his next resident. While this is a far-off scenario for the audience of a student blog, this will soon become a reality for our parents’ generation.
Populations are aging globally. Life expectancies increase while fertility levels tend to stay low (United Nations, 2023). A development that is also present in the Netherlands. By 2040 the Dutch population is expected to have an old-age dependency ratio of around 46% (Directorate-General for Economic and Financial Affairs, 2024). Additionally, the workforce of caregivers won’t grow proportional to the rising demand.
Therefore, we shaped the mission: to enhance senior care by leveraging AI technology to deliver personalized and proactive care. The solution is a software platform called ElderWatch, which is a Generative AI-powered conversational companion model by delivers values to three major parties: elderly individuals, caregivers, and administrators of LTC facilities.
How does it work:
Every senior of a long-term care home gets his/her elderly assistant, offering them an opportunity to engage in conversations throughout the day. Whether sharing personal matters, discussing politics, or chatting about a famous TV show, the idea is for the senior to spend time with his assistant to prevent feelings of social isolation. Besides the emotional support, the assistant also guides seniors through their day, reminding them of important appointments or helping to comply with their medication schedules. Lastly, the elderly assistant engages in cognitive games with a senior to maintain their cognitive abilities and keep their minds active.
In addition to the seniors, the elderly assistant also benefits the caregivers by allowing for more effective visits. Before each visit a caregiver can generate a briefing report summarizing the most important and recent information on a senior. This allows the caregivers to quickly prepare and personalize their visits. Consequently, a caregiver can manage more seniors throughout the day without compromising the quality of his/her visits.
As all elderly assistants installed in an LTC home gather numerous amounts of data, these homes can leverage insights to improve operational efficiency. Hereby, ElderWatch can benefit the management side of an LTC home.
ElderWatch’s vision is clear: Compensate for the growing gap between demand and supply in elder care with an emphasis on the social well-being of seniors. Therefore, we hope to see a better future for every family with this innovative AI-driven solution.
2024 Ageing Report. Economic and Budgetary Projections for the EU Member States (2022-2070). (2024, April 18). Economy and Finance. https://economy-finance.ec.europa.eu/publications/2024-ageing-report-economic-and-budgetary-projections-eu-member-states-2022-2070_en
Enhancing Educational Support with GenAI: How Lyceo is Integrating AI into its Learning Framework
18
October
2024
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The ongoing teacher shortage in the Netherlands is a growing concern, creating disruptions that impact the quality of education and limiting students’ future opportunities. With some classes and even entire school days being canceled, and certain subjects no longer taught, education has taken a hit. As a response, many parents have turned to private tutoring or homework assistance for their children, while schools increasingly seek external educational services. Among these, Lyceo has emerged as the largest provider.
As more and more schools rely on Lyceo, the company is able to leverage AI technology to address various educational challenges and automate tasks. With the introduction of the Lyceo GenAI learning tool, the company’s virtual tutors will be able to support students by answering questions and providing timely feedback on assignments. The tool will offer personalized insights, highlighting students’ strengths and identifying areas where they can improve. By considering diverse learning preferences and abilities, Lyceo can create tailored teaching strategies and resources for each student. This technology not only provides real-time explanations but also extends continuous support, even during late-night study sessions. This self-paced approach is particularly beneficial for those students who prefer to study according to their own schedules.
Additionally, Lyceo’s GenAI-powered chatbots will enhance customer service by assisting parents in obtaining answers immediately. The chatbots are designed to provide information and perform tasks. The informative chatbots will deliver pre-set information to help parents with questions about pricing or suitable programs tailored to a student’s needs. In contrast, task-based chatbots are programmed to handle specific requests, such as scheduling tutoring sessions for students.
However, integrating GenAI into Lyceo’s business model involves considerable investment. The costs for implementing generative AI can range from minimal to several million euros, depending on the specific use case and scale. While smaller companies may benefit from free versions of generative AI tools, like ChatGPT, Lyceo will likely need to invest in customized AI services to develop the online learning tool and sophisticated chatbots tailored to their needs.
The potential benefits make this investment worthwhile, enabling Lyceo to improve its educational support services and continue to meet the evolving demands of schools, students and parents.
Finance Buddy: Transforming Financial Literacy with Generative AI
18
October
2024
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In today’s fast-paced world, financial literacy is more crucial than ever. Even so, many people worldwide struggle to manage their finances effectively. That is the reason for the creation of Finance Buddy, a platform powered by Generative AI (GenAI). The goal is to change this scenario by providing personalized financial insights and tools that make complex financial data easy to understand, therefore changing the financial reality of the users. With the growing demand for personalized solutions, Finance Buddy addresses this need with a differential that is the merge of financial management, education, and gamification.
Personalized Financial Insights with GenAI
Finance Buddy’s main feature is its ability to use GenAI to analyze users’ financial data – such as income, expenses, debt, and savings – and transform it so that the user can relate better and be more responsible for its financial management. The platform will create dynamic stories to help users understand their financial health and make informed decisions, which differs from traditional tools that simply display numbers. Because of that, no matter if the goal is to track expenses, predict savings growth or offering customized advice, Finance Buddy will be able to output a comprehensive view of their finances.
Financial Literacy at Its Core
Another primary goal is to financially educate users. To do that, the platform will offer personalized educational content based on each user’s financial profile and knowledge level. This will guarantee that users will learn at their own pace. Besides that, to generate more value, it will feature interactive modules and quizzes to increase engagement, while the AI adapts lessons to match users’ evolving needs. This positions the platform as a transformative tool in the fintech space, since not just financial management is being offered, but also education.
Gamification for User Engagement
To increase user experience, there will be the use of gamification. Users can set financial goals, track their progress, and earn rewards as they reach milestones. This motivates users to stay engaged with the platform and take active steps toward improving their financial health by crating a sense of achievement when breaking down financial goals into smaller achievable ones and offering a visual perception of progress.
A Scalable, Freemium Model
Finance Buddy will be a freemium model. It will offer basic features for free, like setting goals and seeing expenses, while premium features – such as advanced financial insights and custom financial projections – will only be available through subscription. This strategy aims to let the platform more accessible for more kinds of users, from young professionals to more financially savvy individuals. Finally, a scalable white-label solution will be offered for financial institutions. It can be customized to fit their needs, driving additional revenue streams and inflow of more end-users to the platform.
In conclusion, Finance Buddy will use of GenAI in an innovative way to provide personalized financial insights, summed with its focus on financial education and engagement, which sets it apart in the fintech space. With its scalable freemium model, it’s poised to revolutionize the way individuals manage and understand their finances.
NutriNet – a personal assistant for your grocery shopping
18
October
2024
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Have you ever taken hours browsing around supermarkets searching for the most nutritious food options? Did it take you too much time figuring out which recipes to cook best, with the groceries you bought? Struggles when dealing with food are numerous, starting from choosing products with appropriate nutrients simply not knowing enough recipes.
Therefore, we introduce NutriNet – a mobile application that is going to make shopping and meal planning easier!
NutriNet simplifies grocery shopping and meal planning, by analyzing which products and recipes fit the users’ desired grocery item wishes, nutrition values and store preferences best. NutriNet aims to address the challenges being implicit to personalized nutrition and helps consumers make healthier food choices by simplifying the grocery shopping and meal planning process. This shall be done by eliminating the need to perfectly understand all nutrition values or to search for numerous recipes. NutriNet completes all these tasks for you in real-time and provides clear and accessible recommendations for you.
• Real-time personal assitant: NutriNet acts as a multifunctional application providing value to consumers by solving various food related problems in real-time. Appearing as a chatbot, it is aimed at taking general grocery shopping lists or meal wishes as input query, combined with preferences for food characteristics (e.g., nutrients, allergies) and grocery stores. It then provides brand specific and personalized grocery shopping lists, as well as meal recommendations, if so desired. Moreover, grocery items can also be added into the initial grocery shopping list query, by scanning them with the integrated AR tool. The product will then be detected visually and thus will be integrated into the shopping list input query.
• Long-term customer engagement: NutriNet distinguishes from competition by providing personalized and customized advice. This is possible, as NutriNet consists of a database, having incorporated stock and product information of the major supermarkets in the Netherlands. In contrast, classic applications, which try to meet similar needs (e.g., meal recommendation) rather focus on counting nutrients for the purpose of short-term weight loss, instead of personalizing grocery shopping lists and meal recommendation to enable a healthier lifestyle for users. Those applications are usable on short term but are proven to have low adherence over the time (Chen et al., 2015).
• Personalized recommendations: NutriNet leverages generative AI to offer accurately personalized recommendations. Users can simply enter their preferences, while prompting a grocery list or a meal, such as gluten-free or high in protein, and the generative AI powered application will provide accurately personalized results. However, personalization and raising awareness for healthy foods are not the only purposes of NutriNet. It also addresses sustainability issues that supermarkets are facing. By gathering consumer purchase and search data in the application, consulting services can be offered to supermarkets, enabling them to plan ordering and stockholding processes more efficient. Hence, supermarkets should be able to reduce food waste due to overstocking on long-term.
NutriNet offers a 2-sided network platform, yielding important value to both, consumers as well as supermarkets.
Contributors
574051 – Duong Dao 728070 – David Wurzer 738898 – David Do 562387 – Roxi Ni
References
Chen, J., Berkman, W., Bardouh, M., Ng, C. Y. K., & Allman-Farinelli, M. (2019). The use of a food logging app in the naturalistic setting fails to provide accurate measurements of nutrients and poses usability challenges. Nutrition, 57, 208-216.
Introducing an AI Travel Planner for Booking.com
18
October
2024
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Imagine a world where planning your next vacation is simple and straightforward, where an advanced system takes care of all the details for you, including finding hotels, flights, and activities, all based on what you like. Our team is excited to propose a new feature for Booking.com, a GenAI-powered travel planner that could completely change how people organize their trips and give Booking.com a real advantage in the online travel agency industry.
Presently, many travelers planning their next trip spend a lot of time looking through countless options, trying to pick the right one for them. This process can be overwhelming for some, and there can be times when great opportunities are missed out on. What we’re suggesting is a travel planner powered by GenAI that creates personalized itineraries and recommendations for users. It would consider their preferences, past bookings, and real-time data like local events or weather updates when providing suggestions, all in the effort to make trip planning easier and more enjoyable for users of the platform. Instead of wasting time on things they don’t care about, users would get suggestions that match exactly what they’re looking for.
Integrating this AI planner into Booking.com’s website and app would be seamless. Travelers access the travel planner via a blue icon found on the home screen of the Booking.com website or app, which pops up a chatbot interface that enables users to converse with the AI chatbot and inform them about their general requirements, such as where they’re going or what they’re interested in doing.
The AI behind the chatbot would then pull together relevant data from internal and external sources and immediately suggest the best options. From there the user can continue the interaction with the chatbot, similar to a travel agent, and develop a complete itinerary as per their needs. At any point if the user wants to make changes, they can just inform the AI chatbot for necessary modifications, and it will update the plan right away. The best part is that the planner can also adjust plans during the trip. If a flight gets delayed or the weather changes, the AI will notify the traveler and offer new suggestions, making sure everything goes smoothly. In the competitive online travel agency market, this ability to adapt in real-time would set Booking.com apart from competitors like Expedia, who are also exploring AI functionalities.
Travelers today want more than just a booking site, they want a tool that understands their needs and gives accurate and relevant recommendations. By integrating GenAI into what they offer, Booking.com would not be just another booking platform, but a complete travel planning assistant available at any time. For Booking.com, the benefits are huge. User engagement on the platform would grow, with more planners interacting with the AI and exploring recommendations. This could in turn lead to more bookings and unlock additional revenue streams from partnered services like car rentals or tours. The more users interact with the planner, the more appealing the platform becomes to service providers, who would want to list their services. As the AI improves its suggestions as a result of increasing options, customer satisfaction and loyalty will undoubtedly improve, which are both critical objectives for any business.
To put it simply, integrating this AI-powered travel planner would completely transform the way people plan their vacations. With AI transforming industries everywhere, now is the perfect time for Booking.com to take travel planning to the next level.
Team 22: Emma Montag, Liam Albachre, Olivier Leurink, Amit Abraham
In today’s world, access to affordable, high-quality legal advice can be a challenge. Hourly rates start at €150 up to €400 per hour. LexiCounsel wants to change this. Powered by generative AI, LexiCounsel provides 24/7 legal advice at a fraction of the cost of traditional lawyers, with the accuracy and reliability that users can expect from a legal professional.
At its core, LexiCounsel is about making legal advice accessible and affordable. By offering flexible subscription plans and a pay-per-use service, LexiCounsel ensures that anyone – whether a startup or an individual – can afford fast and reliable legal advice. With pricing as low as €5 per case, or €20 per month, it is almost guaranteed your legal fees will decrease.
But affordability doesn’t mean compromising on quality. By establishing partnerships with legislators, legal organisations and other government organs, LexiCounsel is guaranteed to be up to date. LexiCounsel’s chatbot will be trained on new laws long before they come into effect. New judgements, which may provide precedents for future cases, are uploaded to LexiCounsel within 24 hours. All this to ensure that LexiCounsel’s knowledge is up to date.
To test its quality, LexiCounsel will undergo regular testing by lawyers, attorneys, and legal experts. LexiCounsel is committed to a 98% accuracy rate in the legal advice it provides. This means that in the vast majority of cases, users can trust the information they receive to be as reliable as what they’d get from a human lawyer. By combining the expertise of legal professionals with the efficiency of AI, LexiCounsel ensures that its users are never left with outdated or incorrect information.
However, LexiCounsel isn’t just about answering questions—it’s about streamlining legal processes that often take hours of a lawyer’s time. Whether you need help drafting a contract, reviewing terms, or navigating compliance issues, LexiCounsel can handle it in minutes. This saves businesses both time and money, allowing them to focus on their core activities instead of getting bogged down in legal complexities.
And when cases get more complicated, LexiCounsel doesn’t leave you stranded. If an issue arises that requires in-depth human expertise, LexiCounsel’s network of partnered lawyers is just a click away. The platform seamlessly connects users to licensed attorneys, offering a smooth transition from automated advice to human assistance when needed.
By focusing on affordability, quality, and accessibility, LexiCounsel is positioned to disrupt the legal services industry. For individuals and small businesses who might find traditional legal services inaccessible, LexiCounsel provides a cost-effective, always-available alternative that doesn’t sacrifice reliability. In short, it’s not just a cheaper way to get legal advice—it’s a smarter, more modern solution to legal challenges.
The future of legal services is changing, and with LexiCounsel, affordable, reliable legal help is finally within reach for everyone.
The Film Set of the Future: Why You Will Soon No Longer Need a Big Crew to Make a Blockbuster
18
October
2024
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Filmmaking has always been a time-consuming, expensive business. Until now. Find out how our start-up is rewriting the rules of the film industry with generative AI (GenAI). This start-up focuses on automating different facets of a film’s production process. The goal is to streamline film production, reduce costs and allow new creative opportunities into the production process. These goals will be realised through five core activities: idea generation, scriptwriting, character design, video creation and voice generation. These core activities and the market approach will be further explained in this blog.
Having laid the foundation for how GenAI can transform the film industry, we now dive deeper into the ways our start-up is using this technology to innovate every aspect of the production process. The first application, ‘idea generation,’ speeds up idea generation using GenAI. This includes ‘scriptwriting,’ where models develop a script based on the generated idea. Then, based on the script, a text-to-image model develops characters, which designers further refine. In video creation, GenAI generates complex visual scenes, which speeds up production. Voice generation creates realistic voices based on text, which simplifies the voice-over process and saves time. Thus, many manual steps are automated and overall production time is reduced.
Our start-up targets a wide range of customers, ranging from large film studios to independent filmmakers. To best serve these different groups, we have developed a multi-channel strategy. Licences will be sold to large studios, letting them use the product freely. To smaller independent filmmakers, Saas subscriptions will be sold. This will ensure that we can attract the top and bottom end of the market, allowing this technology to gain wider adoption within the film industry.
To analyse our differentiation in the film industry, we used the VRIO model. This analysis shows that our start-up has a unique competitive advantage thanks to the early integration of GenAI. Indeed, Generative AI has not yet been widely adopted in film production. Therefore, our advantage lies in the first mover position we aim to achieve, also partly due to offering two types of our product. In addition, the VRIO model also reflects that there are indeed challenges. Namely, there are high costs associated with developing generative AI. Also, the film industry is a market dominated by established players with high budgets which can make it difficult to get a foothold.
In conclusion, this start-up could as of now transform the film industry using GenAI by deploying a more efficient production process. Various aspects of the production process can be developed with lower costs through automation and creative capabilities are expanded. The focus on major film studios and independent filmmakers ensures broad market access. Although there are challenges, our first mover strategy gives us a competitive advantage to transform this industry.
Revolutionizing Visitor Experiences: How Generative AI Could Transform Orpheo into a PlatformPowerhouse
18
October
2024
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For our GenAI proposal, our group (group 3) explored how Orpheo Group, a global leader in visitor solutions for cultural institutions, could revolutionize its business model by integrating GenAI and transitioning from a traditional supplier to a dynamic platform provider. We proposed GenAI as the key solution to automate and personalize Orpheo’s content creation process, while also transforming the visitor experience.
The core of our proposal is an AI-powered chatbot designed to deliver hyper-personalized experiences. This chatbot would generate visitor-specific tour scripts, offering multilingual voice synthesis tailored to individual preferences such as topics of interest, available time, and accessibility needs. By incorporating GenAI, Orpheo could significantly cut costs while maintaining the high-quality content that distinguishes the brand, all while offering a more engaging and adaptable experience for museumgoers.
Beyond the immediate benefits of personalization, the integration of GenAI opens up new opportunities for Orpheo to become a data-driven platform provider. By collecting and analysing visitor data, Orpheo can offer museums and cultural institutions valuable insights into visitor behaviour, improving exhibit management and marketing efforts. This not only enhances visitor engagement but also strengthens Orpheo’s relationship with its partners, positioning it as a central player in a broader ecosystem.
While the promise of GenAI is significant, our findings also highlight challenges that Orpheo will need to address. These include the complexity of AI implementation, data privacy concerns, and potential shifts in employee roles as technology changes workflows. We proposed strategies like forming partnerships with AI specialists and running pilot programs to ensure a smooth and manageable transition.
Our research delved into adaptive audio guides and recommendation systems, further supporting the idea that personalized experiences will become a major differentiator for Orpheo. The platform model we propose could allow the company to scale its offerings and remain competitive against new entrants, securing a stronger market position.
To bring this concept to life, we developed an early-stage prototype named LISA, designed to showcase a GenAI solution for the Louvre. This prototype is a tangible demonstration of how Orpheo could implement this technology and reshape the visitor experience in one of the world’s most renowned museums.
If successfully implemented, Orpheo’s transition from a content supplier to a platform provider would mark a significant shift in the industry, reinforcing its leadership in digital visitor solutions and enabling the company to scale its services globally.
This project taught us how disruptive technologies, like GenAI, can transform a company’s business model and provide a competitive edge in the digital economy. By integrating AI into Orpheo’s operations, we explored how firms can improve efficiency, offer personalized customer experiences, and reposition themselves as platform providers. The experience reinforced key course concepts, such as the importance of adapting to technological advancements, rethinking business models, and navigating the challenges of data-driven solutions. It provided a practical understanding of how digital disruption can create value and reshape industries, preparing us for future roles in a technology-driven business world.
Authors (Group 3): Riccardo Di Bernardo, Alessio Merello, Tim Niedermann, Roan Otten