The Supply Side: Artificial intelligence is slowly shaping the future of retail - Talk Business & Politics

Artificial intelligence (AI), otherwise known as machine learning, is slowly reshaping retail from optimizing back-end supply chain operations to in-store execution. It is also impacting marketing, customer service engagement and anti-fraud activities, according to a report from New York-based information technology industry analyst firm 451 Research. While AI is far from the mainstream, researchers said plenty of retailers are experimenting with how machine learning can be applied in many areas of retail. The report states retailers won't be the only ones needing to adapt to the disruption of machine learning as customers will also face changes in how they view and experience shopping. For AI to work to its full potential, researchers said customers will need to be comfortable with increased data sharing if they want to benefit from personalized shopping experiences via machine learning.