Depending on your age, the first time you ever heard of artificial intelligence was perhaps Robbie the Robot in a 1950s sci-fi movie or maybe the character Data in Star Trek or even the Spielberg movie AI in the early 2000s.
Whenever it was, it all seemed rather futuristic – and somewhat … well, artificial.
A lot has changed since then and when it comes to computer controlled machines, devices and even robots that we interact with on a daily basis the future is now.
AI – the blanket name for all of this technology – has now moved into the mainstream with many authorities saying the next frontier will be in the world of retailing. That means big changes for companies that make and sell products like lighting.
In fact a new study from some of the folks who pay attention to such things, Juniper Research, projects that global spending on AI by retailers will reach $7.3 billion within four years, nearly a four-fold increase from today’s level.
Which is not to say we’re going to see Robbie the Robots running the checkout lanes at The Home Depot or automated little gizmos whizzing around the shopping mall. The practical applications of AI will be much more in back room operations than up front.
“Retailers (are) increasingly turning to solutions such as AI-optimized pricing and discounting, as well as demand forecasting,” said Juniper research Nick Maynard. “Retailers are looking to replicate the success of Amazon in making AI a core part of their operations.”
The study forecasts that, among other things, retailers will be using AI to generate individualized customized offerings to shoppers and power chatbots for real-time customer service. Part of what will make all of this more probable is the coming drop in costs to implement AI systems and processes, Juniper says.
As with any new technology, how it all plays out is not so easy to predict while it’s all happening. But the impact will be massive, the study says: “AI has a huge transformative potential for retailers, in a way that is difficult to underestimate. AI [is] more applicable all the time.”