Break Through Tech fellows worked with Cohere to create a system that can collect and store thousands of product reviews, then use AI to uncover actionable insights that fuel smarter business growth.
Published
10/16/2025
- Challenge Projects
The Challenge
For retailers, customer reviews represent a powerful source of information, but one that is difficult to harness at scale. Cohere presented Break Through Tech fellows with a real-world scenario: create a system that can collect and store thousands of product reviews, then use AI to uncover actionable insights that fuel smarter business growth.
The goal was to understand sentiment, extract meaningful patterns, and pinpoint the product features that shoppers value most. With these insights, the system would then recommend new brands to retailers whose products align with those qualities and preferences.
The Approach
Fellows began by experimenting with unsupervised learning techniques, clustering reviews to surface associations and patterns in the data. From there, they applied large language models (LLMs) for deeper sentiment analysis, identifying not just whether a review was positive or negative, but also why. Finally, they layered in deep learning methods to build a recommendation system capable of predicting which new brands a store might want to carry, based on what its customers already value.
The Impact
This challenge was more than a technical exercise—it reflected a business-critical problem that companies across industries continually face: how to turn unstructured consumer feedback into actionable insights. The BrandMatch project highlighted how AI can help retailers:
- Tailor product assortments to meet customer demand
- Forecast emerging trends and brand opportunities
- Make data-driven decisions in inventory management
- Strengthen competitiveness in a crowded marketplace
“This project was the perfect mix of technical learning and practical impact. It made the work feel meaningful.”
The Bigger Picture
By tackling this project, fellows not only learned how to apply clustering, sentiment analysis, and recommendation systems in tandem, they also gained experience working at the intersection of AI and the business challenges facing the retail industry.
Partnerships like this are at the heart of Break Through Tech’s mission. By collaborating directly with organizations like Cohere, our fellows gain a valuable experience and resume credential while industry leaders tap into the fresh perspectives of early tech talent.
Join us in our mission. Learn more about Break Through Tech’s AI Studio.