"We can't let existential risks blind us to the challenges we face today," says Gina Neff, a tech expert at the University of Cambridge and co-chair of a new TUC taskforce on artificial intelligence in the workplace. "Those challenges are real, and they're faced by all of us." Rishi Sunak is hosting a global AI safety summit in November, amid hair-raising concerns raised by tech gurus – some of whom have even warned the technology could destroy humanity. Sunak, a Stanford graduate, is known at Westminster as a wannabe West Coast tech bro, with his branded hoodies and Palm Angels sliders, and has picked up on the "existential" threats highlighted by some of the biggest names in Silicon Valley. Neff welcomes the prime minister's decision to call the summit. But today, without a hoodie in sight, she has come together with two fellow female tech experts – Dee Masters, an employment barrister, and the TUC campaigner Mary Towers – to discuss a more immediate, albeit less apocalyptic, threat from AI: the risk to workers' rights.

Adidas has ramped up interest in its recently launched female-focused community space Studio LDN, by using a chatbot to create an interactive booking process. The studio, which opened earlier this year, offers a series of weekly free-to-attend fitness sessions especially for women, with the ultimate goal of boosting brand engagement. The Facebook Messenger chatbot, created by marketing technology agency Byte London, is the only way to find out about sessions and register, so it has been integral to driving awareness and the success of the initiative. "One of the main appeals of a chatbot was that it allows for ongoing, deeper engagement with our consumers through regular one-to-one conversations," Sarah Gower, managing editor at Adidas London Newsroom, tells Marketing Week. "It also offers agility in a fast-paced social landscape with new broadcasts being published weekly."

Just Eat's marketing budget is a "whopping figure", according to chief marketing officer Barnaby Dawe, who believes it has to be that way for a high growth business. Speaking today (20 March) at Advertising Week Europe, he said it is absolutely right that marketing should be one of the biggest spends for the business, and that the brand spends more on marketing than technology. Dawe said he is "trying to drive efficiencies" so the "ratio of marketing spend to revenue gets lower as we get older – our marketing budgets might increase but they shouldn't increase at the same rate as revenue". He added: "I'm conscious that the board, the CFO and the CEO feel that money is being well spent. That means having acute measurement tactics."

Artificial intelligence is the key to the future of online retail, business bosses have said, providing a crucial way to help shoppers find what they want. Alex Baldock, chief executive of Shop Direct, which runs very.co.uk and Littlewoods, told the Telegraph Festival of Business in London that artificial intelligence was the company's "big bet". "You have three seconds to seize the shopper's attention – it's called thumb stopping, the three-second audition," Mr Baldock said. "That's where personalisation comes in." Shop Direct is owned by Sir David and Sir Frederick Barclay, proprietors of Telegraph Media Group, the publisher of the Daily Telegraph.

Just Eat, the world's leading marketplace for online food delivery, today gave a sneak peek into the future, bringing together exciting technologies in the fields of Virtual and Augmented Reality, Artificial Intelligence, self-driving delivery robots and other innovations aimed at transforming how people discover, order and enjoy food. At an event in the Village Underground in Shoreditch, London titled "The Future Now – Redefining Food Discovery", Just Eat showcased the future of online food technology. Just Eat's dedicated product development team provided guests with a hands-on experience of the innovations that will help improve food experiences for both customers and restaurants in the decades to come. David Buttress, chief executive of Just Eat, said: "Technology is at the heart of everything we do at Just Eat. We are always seeking ways to help our restaurant partners grow and ensure new and existing customers have a reliable, convenient and, increasingly, fun experience when they order from us. Technology innovation helps us bring the greatest breadth of choice to consumers while giving our fantastic restaurant partners the tools and resources to further their own ambitions."

Food delivery marketplace Just Eat has continued its innovation push this week with a showcase of some of latest foodtech innovations at an event in Shoreditch. The London-based business held its'The Future Now - Redefining Food Discovery' event at Village Underground in Shoreditch today (Tuesday), showing off a raft of innovations including virtual and augmented reality innovations, AI chatbots and self-driving delivery robots. Technology on display included harnessing VR to feed into analytics and research for Just Eat's restaurant partners to utilising Microsoft's Hololens technology to display menu options as a buffet from which customers are able to choose their order. Elsewhere, AI also made its presence felt with Just Eat's customer care and Facebook chatbots providing a conversational approach to customer support and recommending restaurant choices depending on a user's mood and preferences. Just Eat has been on a serious innovation push this year, launching its own foodtech accelerator at the beginning of August and trialling Starship Technologies' self-driving delivery robots, which were also on show at the event.

Artificial intelligence is the key to the future of online retail, business bosses have said, providing a crucial way to help shoppers find what they want. Alex Baldock, chief executive of Shop Direct, which runs very.co.uk and Littlewoods, told the Telegraph Festival of Business in London that artificial intelligence was the company's "big bet". "You have three seconds to seize the shopper's attention - it's called thumb stopping, the three-second audition," Mr Baldock said. "That's where personalisation comes in." Shop Direct is owned by Sir David and Sir Frederick Barclay, proprietors of Telegraph Media Group, the publisher of the Daily Telegraph.

According to the heads of a number of online retailers, artificial intelligence (AI) will play a key role in the future of the industry due to how it can be utilised to aid consumers in discovering new products and identifying what they want to buy. The chief executive of Shop Direct, Alex Baldock, believes that AI could be the company's "big bet" as it will provide a significant advantage to the retailer when dealing with its customers. Baldock explained how the new technology could help its business during a panel discussing technology's role in business, saying: "You have three seconds to seize the shopper's attention – it's called thumb stopping, the three-second audition. That's where personalisation comes in." Adrian Blair, the chief executive of Just Eat, was also present on the panel and noted that his company takes 80 per cent of its orders on mobile devices.

Artificial intelligence is the key to the future of online retail, business bosses have said, providing a crucial way to help shoppers find what they want. Alex Baldock, chief executive of Shop Direct, which runs very.co.uk and Littlewoods, told the Telegraph Festival of Business in London that artificial intelligence was the company's "big bet". "You have three seconds to seize the shopper's attention - it's called thumb stopping, the three-second audition," Mr Baldock said. "That's where personalisation comes in." Shop Direct is owned by Sir David and Sir Frederick Barclay, proprietors of Telegraph Media Group, the publisher of the Daily Telegraph.

Uber is making an aggressive drive into meal delivery, backed by a wave of staff recruitment, with the U.S. tech heavyweight gearing up to enter at least 22 new countries and take on local rivals. In a measure of rising ambition beyond its taxi business, Uber will begin delivering meals in Amsterdam on Thursday just as Dutch market leader Takeaway.com And according to current job listings on Uber and other recruiting sites - for about 150 roles ranging from general managers and sales staff to bike couriers - UberEats is planning to enter at least 22 new countries across the world in the near future. That is on top of the six countries where it already operates. Uber is making an aggressive drive into meal delivery, backed by a wave of staff recruitment, with the U.S. tech heavyweight gearing up to enter at least 22 new countries and take on local rivals Download the UberEATS app and add your delivery address.