MIAMI, FLORIDA – AUGUST 19: A sign is seen outside of a Target store on August 19, 2020 in Miami, Florida. The Terminator, a symbol of artificial intelligence run amok, famously declared that he would be back. Three and a half decades later, it turns out repeat business is at the heart of AI. In the years since, consumers have grown more comfortable sharing their data, especially as they crave more personalization. Now, with Covid-19 propelling shopping online--replete with tracking cookies and apps--we've reached a key moment.

"An AI system needs data in order to become smart. And the more data it has, the smarter it gets," says Gaylene Meyer, Vice President Global Marketing & Communications at RFID company Impinj (PI), whose products allow retailers to track trillions of items of inventory in real time and respond quickly to changes in demand. "When you can see everything moving through a system, you gain a new view of the system as a whole. So you can find the pain points and eliminate them." That's crucial, as inconvenience is the enemy of sales; the easier the transaction, the more likely people are to complete it.