日本的家电零售商面临着一个持续的挑战：在人员配置紧张的情况下，将专业的销售支持延伸到门店营业时间之外。avatarin是一家从全日空控股分拆出来的人工智能客服公司，它与山田控股合作，将资深销售人员的知识转化为一个全天候的多语言购物助手。
基于OpenAI的GPT-Realtime，Kurashi-Marugoto AI Agent支持自然的语音对话，并引导购物者从产品发现到购买决策的全过程。在山田电机在线商店进行的为期两周的公开活动中，约有3万人使用了该助手；92%的调研反馈为正面评价。
“这不是传统聊天机器人的延伸。这是用AI拓展客户服务可能性的尝试。我们将其视为零售业‘界面革命’的开端。”
——avatarin首席执行官 福堀晃
从回答问题到理解用户
avatarin在山田电机项目之前很久就已经与OpenAI合作，使用OpenAI API进行语音识别、咨询分析和员工培训。这些早期的努力帮助团队理解了在实际中应用AI需要什么。购物助手是其第一次将这些经验直接带给客户的重要机会。
对福堀来说，GPT-Realtime的关键优势之一是将语音、文本和视觉理解整合到单一的对话体验中。
“对我们而言，单一模型的性能超越了以往所见到的专用语音识别系统。它可以在低延迟下处理语音、文本和图像。这就是我们选择GPT-Realtime的原因。与其让人们去适应机器的规则，这项技术可以更自然地适应人们的沟通方式。”
传统聊天机器人等待正确的关键词。avatarin的助手则倾听语境。它可以回应购物者的犹豫、不断变化的偏好，以及那些将通用答案变成有用建议的细节。
福堀用一个日常购物问题描述了这种差异。
“客户不想要聊天机器人。他们想要智能。‘我需要一台四口之家的冰箱，但我的厨房很小。我该选哪一款？’真正的客户服务意味着能够回答这个问题。”
让零售专业知识拥有声音
avatarin围绕三个基本特质设计了该助手：
- **在不拖慢对话的前提下保持产品信息的准确性。**检索增强生成系统将助手的回答锚定在产品信息上，而GPT-Realtime则保持互动的响应性。这使得购物者可以进行流畅的语音对话，同时仍能获得基于相关产品数据的信息。
- **将山田电机的销售专业知识转化为对话设计。**销售人员需要收集的信息因产品类别而异。avatarin将山田电机的客户服务知识融入了助手的对话流程和提示设计中。该系统设计为能够适应客户需求的变化或暂时偏离主题的情况，同时通过防护措施帮助对话保持在购物体验的轨道上。
- **设计一个会提问而非仅仅回答的助手。**许多传统聊天机器人体验都在等待客户提供下一个指令。avatarin采取了更主动的方式。助手会提出后续问题以挖掘客户的实际需求，帮助对话从简单的问答交流转向引导式的产品发现。
OpenAI与avatarin合作构建复杂的提示词、优化始终在线语音服务的API成本，并分享实施最佳实践。这些支持帮助avatarin专注于将山田电机的服务模式转化为一种准确、响应迅速且明显符合品牌调性的体验。
“它如此自然地理解我们的意图，这让我感到兴奋，”福堀说，“还有那些有时超越人类能力的智能闪现。”
当对话成为洞察
公开活动在短短两周内就显现了影响：
- 约3万名用户
- 通过语音和文本提供全天候多语言支持
- 92%的正面调研反馈
最重要的发现不仅仅是规模。每一段对话都揭示了购物者关心什么、他们为何犹豫，以及什么可能帮助他们做出决定。“在传统的在线购物中，这些洞察很难看到，”福堀解释道。“有了AI助手，它们就成为了对话的一部分。”
这项服务还为零售开启了新的时刻。客户可以在门店关门后提问，并坦率地谈论预算或犹豫，而不会感到销售压力。
每段对话都以简短的语音调查结束，使反馈成为购物体验的自然延续。
客户形容该助手“比真正的销售顾问更容易交谈”，并赞赏能够再次提问而不感到压力。
对avatarin而言，其意义超越了销售本身。更好的对话还可以揭示如何改进服务、营销和下一次客户体验。
一个智能。一个品牌。每个界面。
avatarin设想了一个世界：一个单一的AI助手能够在网页、电话和实体门店中无缝服务客户。每个渠道不再是独立的系统，而是同一个智能体携带客户的上下文信息。结果是连续性：一个客户、一段对话、一个品牌，无论互动发生在哪里。
对于业务涵盖家电、住宅、金融服务等领域的山田控股来说，这一愿景可以使AI成为日常生活中值得信赖的伙伴。其雄心不仅是连接渠道，更是创造体现公司品牌和待客精神的AI。
OpenAI的技术正在加速这一愿景的实现。“AI显然已经换挡提速，”福堀说。“我迫不及待想看看我们能利用这种非凡的智能构建什么。”
但avatarin不希望每家公司听起来都一样。“我们希望人们体验到一种体现每家公司身份和品牌的智能，跨越每一个界面。这就是我们所说的‘一个智能。一个品牌。每个界面。’单一用途AI的时代已经结束。我相信OpenAI将引领通用多模态智能的下一个时代。”
Japan’s home-appliance retailers face a persistent challenge: extending expert sales support beyond store hours while staffing remains tight. avatarin, an AI customer service company spun out of ANA Holdings, partnered with Yamada Holdings to turn experienced associates’ knowledge into a 24/7 multilingual shopping agent.
Built on OpenAI’s GPT‑Realtime, the Kurashi-Marugoto AI Agent supports natural voice conversations and guides shoppers from product discovery to purchase decisions. In a two-week public campaign on Yamada Denki’s online store, approximately 30,000 people used the agent; 92% of survey responses were positive.
“This is not an extension of the conventional chatbot. It is an attempt to expand what customer service can be with AI. We see it as the beginning of an ‘interface revolution’ in retail.”
Akira Fukabori, CEO, avatarin
From answering questions to understanding people
avatarin had worked with OpenAI well before the Yamada Denki project, using the OpenAI API for speech recognition, inquiry analysis, and employee training. Those earlier efforts helped the team understand what it takes to apply AI in practice. The shopping agent was its first major opportunity to bring those lessons directly to customers.
For Fukabori, one of the key advantages of GPT‑Realtime was the ability to bring voice, text, and visual understanding together within a single conversational experience.
“For us, the performance of a single model went beyond what we had seen from specialized speech recognition systems. It can work across speech, text, and images with low latency. That is why we chose GPT‑Realtime. Instead of asking people to adapt to the rules of a machine, the technology can adapt much more naturally to the way people communicate.”
A conventional chatbot waits for the right keyword. avatarin’s agent listens for context instead. It can respond to a shopper’s uncertainty, changing preferences, and the details that turn a generic answer into a useful recommendation.
Fukabori describes the difference with an everyday shopping problem.
“Customers do not want a chatbot. They want intelligence. ‘I need a refrigerator for a family of four, but my kitchen is small. Which one should I choose?’ Real customer service means being able to answer that question.”
Giving retail expertise a voice
avatarin designed the agent around three essential qualities:
- **Keeping product information accurate without slowing the conversation.**A retrieval-augmented generation system grounds the agent’s responses in product information, while GPT‑Realtime keeps the interaction responsive. This allows shoppers to have a fluid voice conversation while still receiving information based on relevant product data.
- **Translating Yamada Denki’s sales expertise into conversation design.**The information a sales associate needs to gather varies significantly by product category. avatarin incorporated Yamada Denki’s customer service knowledge into the agent’s conversation flows and prompting. The system is designed to adapt when customers change their requirements or move temporarily off topic, while guardrails help keep the conversation focused on the shopping experience.
- **Designing an agent that asks, rather than only answers.**Many traditional chatbot experiences wait for the customer to provide the next instruction. avatarin took a more proactive approach. The agent asks follow-up questions to uncover the customer’s actual needs, helping move the conversation from a simple question-and-answer exchange toward guided product discovery.
OpenAI worked with avatarin to structure complex prompts, optimize API costs for always-on voice service, and share implementation best practices. That support helped avatarin focus on translating Yamada Denki’s service model into an experience that felt accurate, responsive, and distinctly on-brand.
“I’m excited by how naturally it understands our intentions,” Fukabori says, “and by glimpses of intelligence that sometimes go beyond what people can do.”
When a conversation becomes an insight
The public campaign made the impact visible in just two weeks:
- Approximately 30,000 users
- 24/7 multilingual support by voice and text
- 92% positive survey responses
The most important discovery was not the scale alone. Every conversation revealed what shoppers cared about, why they hesitated, and what might help them decide. “With conventional online shopping, those insights were difficult to see,” Fukabori explains. “With an AI agent, they become part of the conversation.”
The service also opened new moments for retail. Customers could ask questions after stores closed and speak candidly about budgets or uncertainty without feeling sales pressure.
Each conversation ended with a short voice survey, making feedback a natural continuation of the shopping experience.
Customers described the agent as “easier to talk to than an actual sales associate” and appreciated being able to ask questions again without feeling stressed.
For avatarin, the implication reaches beyond the sale. A better conversation can also reveal how to improve service, marketing, and the next customer experience.
One Intelligence. One Brand. Every interface.
avatarin envisions a world where a single AI agent serves customers seamlessly across the web, phone, and physical stores. Instead of separate systems for each channel, the same intelligence carries the customer’s context forward. The result is continuity: one customer, one conversation, and one brand, wherever the interaction takes place.
For Yamada Holdings, whose businesses span home appliances, housing, financial services, and more, that vision could make AI a trusted companion across everyday life. The ambition is not just to connect channels, but to create AI that embodies the company’s brand and spirit of hospitality.
OpenAI’s technology is helping accelerate that vision. “AI has clearly shifted into a higher gear,” Fukabori says. “I can’t wait to see what we can build with this extraordinary intelligence.”
But avatarin does not want every company to sound the same. “We want people to experience one intelligence that embodies each company’s identity and brand across every interface. That is what we mean by ‘One Intelligence. One Brand. Every interface.’ The era of single purpose AI is over. I believe OpenAI will lead the next era of general purpose, multimodal intelligence.”
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