It sounds odd, but some folks are much better at Googling than others. They find the link first, whether it’s tickets for a show, a niche answer to a trivia question or a pair of shoes you’ve lusted for since you saw them on TV. They’ve been raised by search engines, but they aren’t intimidated by the vastness of an open-ended search. They’re master keyword manipulators.
And in the era of search engine optimization, there’s less chance involved once you type in a high volume keyword: there’s a company out there tailoring its content to your chosen search, and a million others chasing its tail. When you search “boots for men,” for example, you’ll probably run into Gear Patrol’s boots buying guide. It’s there for good reason, too — it’s comprehensive, informative and flooded with stylish boots for men. This time, Google worked — it took you to content that matched your query. But what if your search was a little more abstract, like a description of the type of boot you wanted?
Try “Boots that are Yellowstone rancher meets Ralph Lauren,” for example. Google probably won’t get what you mean. If you take it to ASOS, you’ll get no matches; same on Nordstrom — or even Amazon. Even Instagram, which has been trying to pivot to e-commerce for months now, won’t fetch you the proper results, if any products at all.
That’s where artificial intelligence comes in. A new AI called Inter Alia acts as a search engine for fashion products. It can understand abstract asks — “outfit for when we colonize Mars,” “crashing ocean waves” or “morning sunrise in Montana” — and more literal requests — “what to wear to Texas,” “living on a ranch” or “busy Paris street outfit.”
It was built by Anthropic AI technical staffer Karina Nguyen, who has also done research work for The New York Times, Wired and Bellingcat. Using products and e-commerce photography from Ralph Lauren, Proenza Shouler and Victoria Beckham, Nguyen created a “prototype visual playground” where shoppers can “explore quality outfits with their creative searches.”
For now, you can’t shop what Inter Alia populates — this is just a pilot system. It does, however, offer a glimpse into a future where our purchases are more authentic, the result of creative keyword searches that more closely mirror how we actually think about products, and, more specifically, clothing. You see, fashion is mostly references. When we see something, it typically conjures something else, forcing us to connect the dots between them. That’s why we can say things like “that looks like something John Mayer would wear.” You’re associating one shirt with the wardrobe of someone else, because you know what their clothes look like.
