Tolstoy AI Lab

Building intelligence
for commerce.

AI that understands your shoppers, your brand and your business.

We’re an applied AI lab for commerce. We connect advances in AI with the context of real businesses—and turn that work into useful tools, content and shopping experiences.

Explore our work
The intelligence behind the work
ShoppersIntent & preferences
BrandsContext & knowledge
Commerce intelligenceUnderstand. Create. Learn.
Relevant contentHelpful experiencesInformed decisions
Our research connects the context to the outcome.

OUR FOCUS

A deeper understanding. More useful AI.

Three connected areas of work, from the foundations in our products to the questions we’re exploring next.

01Shopper intelligence

Understand the person behind the purchase.

Shopping intent is more than a product view. We work on connecting questions, preferences, try-ons and purchase behavior into a more useful understanding of what people need.

Better audience understanding. More informed creative briefs.

Built into our work today

Our shopper network supports audience analysis and comparisons with broader shopping patterns. Network insights use profile descriptions and aggregate measures; shopper identities stay scoped to each store.

What we’re exploring

How can those patterns help a brand choose the next audience, creative idea or shopping experience to test?

Explore commerce insights

02Brand intelligence

Give AI a real understanding of your business.

Your catalog is only part of the picture. Your brand has a voice, a visual language, a history and rules for how it shows up. Useful AI needs that context before it starts the work.

More consistent content. Less time re-explaining your brand.

Built into our work today

Structured brand context brings product categories, voice, colors, typography and creative references into AI workflows. Saved direction gives the next assignment a starting point.

What we’re exploring

We are exploring a brand network: how shared commerce knowledge can improve a brand’s work while keeping its own context and access boundaries distinct.

See how Shop Bots work

03Personalization

Make the next experience more relevant.

The same product can mean different things to different people. We explore how shopper, brand and channel context can shape the image, message and experience around it.

Content that fits the moment. Shopping with less guesswork.

Built into our work today

Product answers, recommendations and virtual try-on already give shoppers ways to explore a product. Content tools let brands create and compare different creative approaches.

What we’re exploring

How should context change the setting, framing or message—and how do we measure whether that change actually helps the shopper?

Explore virtual try-on

APPLIED MEANS ACCOUNTABLE

The work has to help in the real world.

Our standard is a useful result: a better brief, a more accurate product answer, a relevant experience or a workflow a team can rely on.

01 / Ground it

Start with real context.

Use product facts, brand direction and the information shoppers choose to share. Keep the source and purpose clear.

02 / Evaluate it

Make the comparison fair.

Define the task and baseline. Review quality, relevance and results. Treat an observed pattern as a question to test.

03 / Put it to work

Build it into the workflow.

Bring useful capabilities into the studios and Shop Bots, with the review steps and controls the work needs.

NOTES FROM THE LAB

Inside the thinking.

A closer look at the systems, design choices and open questions behind our work.

Engineering noteWhat makes an audience comparison meaningful?

A difference is a starting point for investigation, not proof of cause.

Audience analysis compares a group’s behavior with a broader network baseline. Sample size and concentration matter: a pattern driven by a few shoppers or one store can be misleading.

Our network measures flag small or concentrated samples and distinguish repeat purchases from buying several products in one basket. The useful output is a hypothesis a brand can test, not a guaranteed lift in sales.

System designBrand memory is part of the brief.

Give the next task a useful starting point.

Product facts, visual references and brand direction serve different purposes. A product image constrains what the item should look like; brand guidelines shape how to present it; a campaign brief defines the job.

Keeping that context structured and reusable helps the team review the work against its actual intent. The research question is how to supply the right context for each task without losing the source or overriding the brand’s direction.

Research directionPersonalization should earn its place.

More context is useful only when it leads to a better experience.

A shopper’s stated preferences may help choose a useful product view or answer. That does not make every available signal relevant, or every personalized output better.

Our research focuses on which context changes help with a specific decision. A useful evaluation considers relevance, product accuracy, brand consistency and the shopper’s response, with a clear baseline for comparison.

From intelligence to everyday work

Put it to work for your brand.

Media Studio, Ads Studio, Storefront Studio, Virtual try-on and Shop Bots bring our applied AI work into the things your team does every day.