Space Vision uses cameras in stores to capture shoppers’ gender, estimated age, and display engagement.
1. Slate’s What Next TBD focuses on retail’s push to use AI at the National Retail Federation conference.
2. Host Lizzie O’Leary talks with Mia Sato, a reporter for The Verge, whose reporting from the conference anchors the episode.
3. The episode asks why retail companies are building AI products for shoppers who may not want them.
4. Sato describes “Mike,” a hologram in a clear tube with a hot pink suit and a “talk to me” sign.
5. She says Mike is meant to stand outside a store or booth and attract customers into a brand interaction.
6. Sato says AI appeared everywhere at the conference, from HR software to customer-experience tools and AI holograms.
7. She calls the event “basically an AI conference” because retailers were pitching AI for data sorting, loss prevention, and grocery-store temperature control.
8. Sato distinguishes between generative AI, like chatbots and large language models, and machine-learning/data-analysis tools.
9. She describes an SEO-style service for the AI era that tries to make brands visible when shoppers ask ChatGPT for product recommendations.
10. She says the problem is still unresolved because companies do not know how chatbot rankings surface products.
11. Sato notes that grocery and food companies were prominent, including a Kroger executive and Papa John’s.
12. She says Papa John’s showed a chatbot that can help order pizza and answer questions like how many pizzas a group of 12 people needs.
13. O’Leary pushes on the point of all this, and Sato says businesses feel pressure to incorporate AI even when it makes little sense.
14. She cites a Wall Street Journal poll showing executives saying AI saves them 12 hours or more per week while non-manager workers often say it saves no time.
15. Sato says some workers spend extra time fixing AI mistakes, which creates a gap between leadership enthusiasm and employee experience.
16. She says Google had a large presence at the conference, with booths, demos, and executives speaking about AI search and AI Mode.
17. Sato says Google and other AI companies see shopping as part of the “agentic web,” where bots do tasks for humans.
18. She says some tools feel useful, like Notion’s AI table creation, but many retail uses still seem forced or low-value.
19. Listeners who follow AI, retail, and consumer-surveillance debates will get the most out of this episode.
20. Listeners who want a lightweight product roundup without privacy concerns may skip it.
