How artificial intelligence is reshaping the sleep products industry.
Depending on who you ask, artificial intelligence either holds promise or peril. Although it feels like the phrase artificial intelligence has been ubiquitous in the past few years, the term was coined in 1956 by John McCarthy at the first AI conference at Dartmouth College. So, while AI is not new, its potential applications have come into the mainstream, bolstered by the launch of ChatGPT in November 2022 from the AI research organization OpenAI.
According to experts in the field, AI could upend almost every industry and aspect of daily life. One expert believes that AI has five major uses in the bedding industry: personalized sleep solutions; smart mattresses; design; supply chain optimization; and virtual try-on and visualization capabilities. Who is this expert? ChatGPT. According to the software application, “Overall, AI has the potential to revolutionize the sleep and bedding industry by providing personalized solutions, optimizing product design and manufacturing processes, and enhancing the overall sleep experience for consumers.”
While it may seem a bit meta to ask an AI program about the future of AI, its answer dovetails with the human experts BedTimes interviewed to learn about its implications. Below, we dive into AI applications within bedding to glimpse what the future could look like. Some might argue that the future is now.
Smart Sleep: The Rise of AI-Powered Bedding
debuted its first smartbed, Auto Pilot.
Perhaps the most prominent example of AI in the bedding industry is the introduction of various AI-powered smartbeds. “We’re seeing more technology put into sleep products,” says Joel Buhr, CEO of Bellevue, Nebraska-based First Direct Marketing, which owns Connect 360, an AI platform used by Englander, Monarch Sleep Systems, Golden Dreams Mattress and Mattress Lux. “AI is going to be powerful. Because if you can train AI to help the consumer make better choices and engage with the products better, that’s going to create stronger brand loyalty and further enhance that individual’s sleep patterns or their health in general. The sleep products industry is at the complete baseline of consumer health. If you don’t take care of your sleep, the rest of your life is miserable, right?”
In fall 2023, Los Altos, California-based Bryte debuted its AI-powered Sleep Concierge, an app integrated with ChatGPT that shares instant feedback to improve users’ sleep quality. At the Las Vegas Market in January, Diamond Mattress, an independent mattress producer based in Rancho Dominguez, California, unveiled its smartbed system, Auto Pilot. The mattress, which features patented technology, contains eight independently controlled zones and 80 individual smart cells that adjust to the sleeper. A connected app automatically adjusts firmness as users move throughout the night. Avondale, Arizona-based King Koil has also found success over the past several years with its popular SmartLife series, which continuously adapts to the user. Sleep Number Co. has offered Sleep Number 360 smartbeds for several years. This spring, the Minneapolis-based manufacturer and retailer rolled out its next generation of smartbeds, with advancements based on 19 million hours of sleep data it has accumulated from its first-generation 360 smartbeds. These are the products of today, but tomorrow, with AI, they’ll only continue to improve. For that, data is key.
AI Chatbots: Your New Sleep Concierge
The first chatbot, called Eliza, was created in 1966 by Joseph Weizenbaum. In the decades since, chatbots have become an essential part of company websites, albeit not always the most user-friendly or efficient tools. With AI, it’s fair to say that the next level of chatbots has arrived. Rancho Cucamonga, California-based mattress manufacturer South Bay International recently announced its partnership with AI-based sleep technology company MattressAI, to use its product, MattyAI.
Although MattyAI is typically applied in business-to-consumer, not business-to-business applications, South Bay International CEO, Toby Konetzny, spotted an opportunity for the company and integrated MattyAI into the service chat on its website. “That’s where I think AI will benefit dot-coms — making it a better user experience,” Konetzny says. “And the user feels confident that they’re getting the right product.”
MattyAI serves dual purposes — providing a seamless user experience while gathering and analyzing data. For example, there could be a noticeable uptick in people asking about a product that South Bay International doesn’t offer. The company could analyze why and decide if there is a gap in its offerings.
As for a prediction of what is to come, Konetzny refers to his Oura ring, an AI-powered health technology device that monitors sleep and physical activity. Now that he has been wearing it for several years, its data gets better. “That is where AI will be great, in the wearables space,” he says. He concedes that the bedding industry has yet to realize its full potential. Although AI-integrated mattresses are a powerful tool for feedback and adjustments, they are currently unable to account for what happens once a user leaves their mattress. In the future, this gap might close, when products are interconnected, allowing for a mattress that can account for factors people encounter throughout the day that could influence their sleep.
Designing the Future: AI-Powered Bedding Innovation
Before a mattress reaches the consumer, everything starts with product development. AI-powered physical components like those in King Koil’s SmartLife series or Diamond Mattress’ Auto Pilot are one way AI can benefit products. Another is by serving as a source of design inspiration. At the Winston-Salem, North Carolina outpost of Waregem, Belgium-based textiles manufacturer BekaertDeslee, AI is used in tandem with its team of designers.
BekaertDeslee designers typically start a brainstorming session with an inspirational image or mood board. Although those images are sourced from easily accessible, industrywide platforms, according to Charlene Vaz, AI revolutionizes this process by generating unique images based on specific prompts.
“Each new AI-generated image is then edited to be appropriate for our knitting and weaving looms,” says Vaz, director of design and marketing at BekaertDeslee North America. “While considerable work is still required, such as placing our design into a repeatable pattern, applying technical stitchwork, this approach significantly optimizes our design process on the front end.”
One example of the company’s work with AI was showcased earlier this year at ISPA EXPO in Columbus, Ohio. BekaertDeslee’s Allergen Reduction bed, part of its Casa Nuance collection, started as an AI prompt, input as “iridescent floral with soft movement and flow, seamless pattern for fabric, wallpaper.” Although the program initially generated a picture of a bright, floral-like pattern, the finished product featured similar movement in a more muted color palette.
“The integration of AI into product design not only enhances creativity and innovation but also ensures efficiency and aligns with user needs and market demands,” Vaz says. “This is a transformative approach that is reshaping the landscape of product development.”
Using AI as a jumping-off point is only the beginning of its design capabilities, however. According to Barbara Stern, editor in chief and bedding expert at Ottoman Textiles, a global supplier of wholesale fabrics based in Manchester, England, the company employs AI in several areas of product design. The primary application is optimizing material usage and design specifications, such as durability and comfort. In the future, Stern says, AI’s uses in product design will be vast.
“AI is set to play a crucial role in automating design processes, where it can generate design prototypes automatically based on predefined criteria such as weight, cost and environmental impact,” she says. “This will drastically reduce the time from concept to prototype, allowing for rapid iteration and innovation.” That also has implications for sustainability. By analyzing lifecycle data, AI can help manufacturers identify the most sustainable raw materials and production techniques, minimizing waste and energy consumption. “AI can also optimize supply chains to reduce carbon footprints, ensuring that products are as environmentally friendly as they are economically viable,” she says.
AI-Powered Customization: The Future of Bedding
Rapid product iteration, as outlined by Stern, will fuel increasing demand for customization and continue to play an important role in consumer decision-making. According to London-based professional services company Deloitte, brands that excel at personalization are 48% more likely to have exceeded their revenue goals and 71% are more likely to report improved customer loyalty.
With generative AI, consumers will soon be accustomed to creating nearly anything they can dream of. Home furnishings software company Storis predicts that this could influence customers and possibly increase the desire for customization. The 2024 Trends report from Storis stated that the “custom furniture market will grow by a compound annual growth rate of 12.21% from 2024 to 2028.” For the bedding industry, that means consumers could be able to request specific colors of designs on a more rapid timeline than previously possible. It will be incumbent upon manufacturers to adopt new or improved technology quickly to meet rapidly evolving market demands.
Behind the Scenes: AI’s Role in Bedding Manufacturing
Management consulting firm McKinsey & Co. states that AI is defining the Fourth Industrial Revolution, thanks to its potential to be as transformative to manufacturing and the world as the original Industrial Revolution from 1760-1840. Although companies are still in the early stages of using it, AI has several applications in manufacturing, including supply chain optimization. Carthage, Missouri-based supplier Leggett & Platt Inc. has a Machine Intelligence Team, dedicated to searching for new functionalities and capabilities within the organization.
Another area of improvement includes shipping. In July, São Paulo, Brazil-based software platform ParcelLab launched Trending Late AI. The company states that the AI-powered feature can anticipate shipping delays, giving the shipper an advantage in making a new plan or rectifying the situation with customers. In a recent Forbes article, Returned.com CEO Paul Lin wrote about how AI-powered robots could streamline factory operations, and in turn, improve logistics.
The Future of AI in Bedding: A Glimpse Ahead
Forecasting the speed and scope of how AI will transform work and society is exactly that, a forecast. It is impossible to make any prediction with 100% certainty. Even those who specialize in futurology, a discipline dedicated to the possibilities of tomorrow, can only make predictions based on today’s conditions and capabilities. But they can get close.
“Future capabilities point toward even more sophisticated integration of AI in design processes, including real-time feedback loops that allow for the continuous improvement of products based on user experience,” says Burak Özdemir, founder of website Character Calculator. “This ensures products meet the highest customer satisfaction standards and drives innovation in sustainable product design, making AI an indispensable tool in the industry.”
According to Stern, AI’s predictive capabilities are expected to become more sophisticated, with neural networks that simulate customer reactions to product features or sustainability practices. “This will enable designers to create products that are technically superior and profoundly aligned with consumer values and expectations,” she says. If anything is certain, it’s that AI will continue to advance. In fact, OpenAI is working on Project Strawberry, a reasoning technology project that is shrouded in secrecy. According to a recent article from Reuters, reasoning technology is an AI model that can “plan ahead, reflect how the physical world functions and work through challenging multistep problems reliably.”
ChatGPT also has something to say about the future of AI: “Ultimately, the impact of AI depends on how we develop, regulate and integrate it into society. It has the potential for significant benefits but also requires careful consideration of its ethical implications and broader societal effects.” So, there you have it — straight from the computer’s, er … neural network.
