Forecasting AI Adoption in Retail: A Mixed Bag

You don't have to look far to see the impact that artificial intelligence is having on the world around us. Across multiple facets of work and play, we're surrounded by smart devices and applications that are strangely prescient at anticipating our wants and needs. But one industry where AI adoption has been surprisingly slow is retail -- particularly around demand forecasting, where AI's potential has scarcely been scratched. A 2018 report from the McKinsey Global Institute concluded that AI has the potential to boost global GDP by 16% by 2030. In dollar terms, that's a gain of $13 trillion, which is a huge number, to be sure.