The Foundation for Interoperability in the Digital Economy (FIDE) has just unveiled a new artificial intelligence (AI) agent named Beckn Generative Pre-trained Transformer (BecknGPT). This AI agent autonomously manages commercial transactions utilizing Open AI's ChatGPT model within the Open Network for Digital Commerce (ONDC) architecture.

BecknGPT is an open-source demonstration app built on OpenAI's ChatGPT platform. This integration between Beckn and ChatGPT provides a sneak peek into the future of shopping, offering personalized experiences driven by AI. The collaboration hints at how retail could be revolutionized with AI-driven solutions, potentially transforming our shop.

What is Beckn?

Beckn is an open protocol that facilitates location-aware local commerce across various industries. It offers a set of recommendations and standards to enable interoperable interactions among participants in a given market or region. The protocol acts as a transaction framework, allowing for discovery, ordering, fulfilment, and payment between buyers and sellers in the digital marketplace. 

Like HTTP for the World Wide Web and SMTP for emails, Beckn provides a common language for commerce interactions in the digital space. Specifically tailored for small, locally available businesses like mobility services, final mile delivery, restaurants, hotels, and healthcare providers, Beckn can support a wide range of commercial and non-commercial interactions in the gig economy.

Design

Beckn's strategy for facilitating an open networked economy is similar to that of the Internet, rather than resembling a Stock Exchange, an open marketplace for buyers and sellers of securities but with more centralized control. The reference here pertains specifically to the Internet as a packet communication infrastructure, distinct from the World Wide Web that operates on top of it. "Internet" commonly encompasses the Web as an application service and the underlying packet communication infrastructure.

Features

Consumers and providers can participate in the market ecosystem on the Beckn open network as end-beneficiaries. Each of them will utilize their respective Beckn protocol APIs. The demand side and supply side digital interfaces and systems interact like how end-points on the Web interact via HTTP. The HTTP client program transmits a request through Internet nodes to reach the destination, and the destination reciprocates by routing the response back to the client using comparable nodes on the Internet. These nodes function as routing utilities. For Beckn, consumer interface applications known as "Beckn Apps" generate and send search and order requests from the consumer side or demand side. 

The Beckn Protocol is a communal asset players utilise within a specific region or market. The regional government establishes the necessary policies to facilitate its implementation. Beckn reveals numerous prospects for stakeholders, including customers, Beckn Providers (BP), City government, Beckn Apps Providers, and infrastructure providers such as Beckn Gateway Providers (BG).

Influence on E-commerce

The advent of BecknGPT presents numerous opportunities to address the challenges typically associated with digital transactions. BecknGPT aims to enhance the accessibility of e-commerce by reducing barriers to digital entry and eliminating language obstacles. This reform will benefit many people, including individuals and small enterprises. It will enhance accessibility and optimize efficiency in various sectors, including healthcare, retail, and education.

Conclusion

Beckn's open network approach, akin to the Internet's packet communication infrastructure, allows consumers and providers to interact efficiently using Beckn protocol APIs. This system promises enhanced accessibility and efficiency across sectors, benefiting small enterprises and individuals in healthcare, retail, and education. BecknGPT's integration into this framework highlights its potential to democratize e-commerce, address digital transaction challenges, and break down entry barriers.

Source: Beckn

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