Who will control the future of commerce?
We’re staring down the barrel of this all-important question. The progress in physics-based AI is advancing at an exponential rate and it means that we are facing a major inflection point for what the future of commerce and global production will look like. Fundamental questions arise from this, and chief among them is whether breakthrough technology will be harnessed to democratize access, empower creators, and drive innovation or whether it will be used to concentrate power and exploit consumers.
I know this because I’ve already seen it. At Mode Maison Labs, the reality of what we’re seeing becomes clearer and more sobering. The future of fully generative commerce and the creation of hyper-personalized, physics-based digital products and experiences at scale have implications that extend far beyond commerce. As we look to introduce these capabilities, there is a profound need for caution and foresight, ensuring these capabilities are wielded responsibly for the benefit of all.
How Did We Get Here?
In the rush to embrace generative AI, from ChatGPT to MidJourney, we’ve barely scratched the surface of a vital piece of the puzzle: spatial intelligence. While today’s generative AI dazzles with creativity and natural language processing, it falters when asked to replicate the three-dimensional, physics-bound world we inhabit. That limitation isn’t just a technical detail. It’s the key challenge standing between us and truly transformative applications of AI in commerce and beyond.
At Mode Maison Labs, we believe spatial intelligence represents the next major leap for AI, enabling consumers to visualize products not as static images but as dynamic elements within a virtual space — objects that interact with light, textures, and even other objects in ways that simulate the physical world.
Why Spatial Awareness Matters
Spatial awareness is fundamental to how we navigate and understand the world. Today’s AI models often “hallucinate” when tasked with recreating these dynamics, producing outputs that lack critical modalities such as understanding or awareness. For commerce, where trust hinges on a consumer’s confidence that what they see online matches reality and that products adhere to the fundamental laws of physics, this shortfall is a dealbreaker. Generative AI is still giving us eight-fingered models sitting on two-legged chairs. The stakes couldn’t be higher: e-commerce is a $5 trillion industry, but its growth is constrained by a lack of immersive, reliable digital experiences and the data that enables this future.
Generative Commerce: Unlocking Potential or Opening Pandora’s Box?
As the capabilities of AI expand, we are on the brink of an entirely new world of generative commerce, and it comes with profound implications. Imagine systems that can not only predict but generate tailored experiences, products, or services based on an individual’s constantly evolving behavioral profile. While the promise is immense, so are the ethical dilemmas.
Consider a famous case from over a decade ago: a retailer used purchasing data to infer a teenage girl’s pregnancy before even she or her family knew. That was with relatively primitive algorithms. Today, AI can dynamically generate content or products that are hyper-personalized, designed to influence consumer behavior on a level we’re only beginning to grasp. This raises uncomfortable questions: If AI can exploit subtle psychological triggers to maximize transactions, where do we draw the line between meeting consumer needs and outright manipulation? The pursuit of revenue, already driving phenomena like the gamification of betting and social media addiction, could become a slippery slope in generative commerce.
The advent of large, physically-based multimodal AI systems introduces radical new possibilities across industries. With great potential, however, comes the responsibility to ensure these tools benefit society rather than undermine it.
The àlaMode Revolution
Enter Mode Maison’s proprietary solution: the àlaMode foundation model. Built from the ground up with spatial awareness and physically-based intelligence, àlaMode incorporates spatial and contextual awareness combined with advanced material digitization to create a fully digitized, infinitely scalable, generative model of commerce.
Our TMAC (Total Material Appearance Capture) technology combines hardware and software to digitize materials with unparalleled fidelity, capturing the nuances of materials such as a fabric’s sheen and translucency, metallic reflection, and the granular profile of wood.
Today, TMACs sit with brands, manufacturers, creative agencies, and on factory floors across the world. The data generated by TMACs enable àlaMode to generate and integrate physically-based real-world products into spatially and contextually-aware worlds, as defined by the user. Brands can deploy these simulations across digital channels, offering consumers immersive experiences that reduce uncertainty, build trust, and drive transaction rates.
The Broader Landscape
Mode Maison is not alone in exploring spatial intelligence for AI. Companies like World Labs AI and other hyperscalers are advancing the field, but their focus often leans toward industrial applications, robotics, or gaming rather than commerce. What sets Mode Maison apart is our commerce-first approach, leveraging an interdisciplinary team with deep expertise in retail, rendering, and research to address the specific needs of brands and consumers.
For instance, our neural rendering initiatives, led by Ondra Karlik, creator of the renowned Corona Renderer, are pushing the boundaries of what’s possible in digital realism. Karlik’s work integrates spatial intelligence with neural rendering techniques, creating a new standard for immersive retail experiences.
Beyond Commerce: The Sustainability Imperative
The implications of spatially intelligent AI extend beyond commerce. By reducing the reliance on physical samples and traditional photography, brands can significantly cut costs and lower their environmental impact. Digital-first strategies powered by àlaMode can reduce waste, energy use, and the carbon footprint associated with conventional product development cycles.
A Call to Action
As we stand at the frontier of AI’s next evolution, the question isn’t whether spatial intelligence will transform industries but who will lead the charge. At Mode Maison, we’re committed to setting the standard, not just by developing cutting-edge models but by applying them in ways that deliver tangible value for the world.
The potential is vast: generative and hyper-personalized creation of products and experiences that feel as real as stepping into a store, digital twins that adhere to the laws of physics, and sustainable practices that align with the values of today’s consumers. However, realizing this potential requires a paradigm shift in how we think about and build AI, one that introduces a much more fulsome understanding of the physically-based world around us.
Spatial and physics-based intelligence isn’t just the next big thing for AI. It’s the all-critical next multimodal frontier. For those willing to explore it and able to circumvent its challenges, the rewards are limitless.
Steven Gay is a Grit Daily Group contributor and the co-founder and CEO of Mode Maison. Formerly the youngest ever concept designer for Ralph Lauren Purple Label, Steven now leads a global team of PhDs, researchers, artists, and technologists in creating-cutting edge technology at the intersection of deep tech, AI, material science, and commerce.