Speaker 1: Since the dawn of civilization, there have always been places
Speaker 1: and markets where people gather to purchase essentials and luxuries.
Speaker 1: The earliest bazaars are believed to have originated in ancient Persia,
Speaker 1: and the first shopping mall is widely considered to be
Speaker 1: a Trajan's market, which housed more than one hundred and
Speaker 1: fifty shops and was built around one hundred AD, not
Speaker 1: far from the Roman Colosseum. Of course, shopping has evolved
Speaker 1: a lot since the days of ancient Rome, but the
Speaker 1: appeal of visiting your favorite store has remained unchanged over time.
Speaker 1: And despite the ways that online retail has transformed the
Speaker 1: way we shop, new technology has revitalized the brick and
Speaker 1: mortar shopping experience, with retailers eager to create unique spaces
Speaker 1: where they can connect customers with products in person and
Speaker 1: reduce product theft. But what does the future hold for
Speaker 1: the shopping experience as we witness the rejuvenation of in
Speaker 1: person retail, and what can retailers do to create a
Speaker 1: more engaging and exciting experience for customers. Welcome to Technically Speak,
Speaker 1: an Intel podcast produced by iHeartMedia's Ruby Studio in partnership
Speaker 1: with Intel In every episode, we explore how AI innovations
Speaker 1: are changing the world and revolutionizing the way we live. Hey,
Speaker 1: then I'm grand class. Regular listeners know that in the
Speaker 1: past we've covered topics like how AI impacts healthcare and
Speaker 1: urban planning. This season, but now we're headed into the
Speaker 1: world of retail, where online director consumer brands are seeking
Speaker 1: innovative spaces to connect customers with products in person, and
Speaker 1: retailers are eager to remain competitive by creating a frictionless
Speaker 1: customer experience. We wanted to understand how technology is helping
Speaker 1: to improve the retail space, making shopping easier, seamless, and exciting.
Speaker 1: In this episode, we will focus on what shopping looks
Speaker 1: like with an AI enhanced self service check out. Just
Speaker 1: imagine a life without barcodes and smart technology that helps
Speaker 1: retailers attract and retain consumers. Today, we'll continue our journey
Speaker 1: of discovery into Intel's innovative ideas for the future and
Speaker 1: how they will impact something as steadfast as retail. But
Speaker 1: before we go any further, let's welcome our guests. Joining
Speaker 1: us today is Shoalie's Childry, the general manager of Consumer
Speaker 1: Industries at Intel and an expert in the intersection of
Speaker 1: technology and the retail, banking, hospitality, and quick serve restaurant industries.
Speaker 1: His team at Intel is responsible for delivering innovative technological
Speaker 1: solutions and tools and building an ecosystem of partners to
Speaker 1: scale those solutions. Welcome to the show, Shalish.
Speaker 2: Thank you, Graham. I'm super excited to be here.
Speaker 1: Also joining us is a Kert Denghi, the co founder
Speaker 1: and CEO of Radius AI, a pioneer in transforming retail
Speaker 1: operations with advanced human centric AI solutions. Acold also founded
Speaker 1: the Internet of Things Collaboratory at Arizona State University in
Speaker 1: twenty seventeen.
Speaker 3: Welcome to you, too, Acold. Thank you Greg. It's a
Speaker 3: pleasure to be part of the show.
Speaker 1: I think we'll start with a little bit of background
Speaker 1: on how retail has changed during the Internet era. Shelley
Speaker 1: shall begin with you. What kind of shift have we
Speaker 1: seen over the past two decades when it comes to
Speaker 1: people opting for online shopping over in person shopping in
Speaker 1: breaking mortar stores?
Speaker 3: Thank you Graham.
Speaker 2: Before starting about how Internet has changed retail, I like
Speaker 2: to stab back at what I see as the core
Speaker 2: retail experience. It's really a human experience. So from the
Speaker 2: dawn of retail, there's something fundamental about retail that has
Speaker 2: not changed, and that's about that experience. It's how we
Speaker 2: feel after we have conducted the shopping, so the commerce
Speaker 2: and the transaction that comes later. And as we have
Speaker 2: progressed through all the developments, there have been new tools
Speaker 2: and capabilities and technologies and those have shaped our expectations.
Speaker 2: And that is exactly what has happened to Internet era as well.
Speaker 2: So while we're happy shopping and tradition more Internet it
Speaker 2: pvided a different technology which was pervasive in all aspects
Speaker 2: of our life, and we carried those expectations in retail
Speaker 2: as well. And for us it's just a different means
Speaker 2: of shopping. And let's be honest, depending on our needs,
Speaker 2: sometimes it's just way more convenient to shop online. And
Speaker 2: it's not just about certain products that have better suit
Speaker 2: it for online shopping. Same product at one moment, I'm
Speaker 2: going to go buy in a physical restore, the other time,
Speaker 2: I'm just going to go on internet. And as we've
Speaker 2: all seen, retailers initially fail to see that. They saw
Speaker 2: Internet just as a tool and technology that are separate.
Speaker 2: They saw it as a competition as opposed to seeing
Speaker 2: it as something that can enhance and augument retail experiences.
Speaker 2: So initially a lot of us shifted to internet shopping
Speaker 2: because that's where our needs are better met. But through
Speaker 2: that twenty a decade, physical retailers started to see that's
Speaker 2: not just a technology and they can just have a website,
Speaker 2: and now they can compete with the online retailers. They
Speaker 2: have integrated Internet into their physical operations. And now we've
Speaker 2: also seen the retailers who started as pure prey online retailers,
Speaker 2: they've started to open physical stores. So since then we
Speaker 2: have reached what I call a steady state after initial
Speaker 2: what I call the gloom and doom. I started in
Speaker 2: retail industry in two thousand and eight, and I remember
Speaker 2: everyone was predicting the death of physical retail, and even
Speaker 2: then I had this conviction about this coat experience. And
Speaker 2: then we started off at Intel. Our journey retail is
Speaker 2: how we can bring all these great technologies and the
Speaker 2: experience that are online, but deliver and working with retailers
Speaker 2: and our technology partners that I could and others so
Speaker 2: that the enhances and complements physical retail. And that's what's happening.
Speaker 1: Yeah, and we're going to talk a little bit about
Speaker 1: the technology side of things and particularly the role of AI.
Speaker 1: But I would like your thoughts about the last two
Speaker 1: decades of how we've evolved, you know, from brix and
Speaker 1: mortar stores to online and there I think there is
Speaker 1: probably a shift back to the brick and mortar stores.
Speaker 3: I agree with Shilesh that we've seen exciting developments in retail.
Speaker 3: Retail is one of the most complex human activities, and
Speaker 3: I actually really enjoy being in retail because it's not
Speaker 3: only human, it's also social. There is a complex web
Speaker 3: of people who work together to create this experience. But
Speaker 3: people missed, especially during the pandemic, they realized they missed
Speaker 3: the social experience they missed going into a store interacting
Speaker 3: with humans, and retailers also saw that the characteristics of
Speaker 3: shopping in person may actually be more favorable for their
Speaker 3: financial goals as well. People who shop in stores may
Speaker 3: not return things as often as they do in detail,
Speaker 3: and that is one of the biggest expenses in online shopping.
Speaker 3: They may actually be more satisfied with their purchases because
Speaker 3: they talked about it to store clerk and they interacted
Speaker 3: with the other people in a store, So creating an experience,
Speaker 3: a positive experience in the store has become more important
Speaker 3: once again. Besides keeping the store efficient and profit fitable,
Speaker 3: we see once again gaining speed the trend of making
Speaker 3: customers want to go back every day.
Speaker 1: Now you've heard Akould mention some of the social impacts
Speaker 1: of the COVID nineteen pandemic, but I want to dig
Speaker 1: a little deeper on its implications for the retail industry.
Speaker 1: It's no surprise that some small retailers in your community
Speaker 1: didn't survive the pandemic. Some of those businesses simply couldn't
Speaker 1: pivot from their in person to online retail fast enough
Speaker 1: to save their shop, or they didn't have the resources
Speaker 1: to make the change at all. But the businesses that
Speaker 1: did survive were able to invest in technology that allowed
Speaker 1: them to make online retail easy and accessible. These companies
Speaker 1: came out on the other side of the pandemic not
Speaker 1: just alive, but stronger. With this in mind, I asked Akut,
Speaker 1: what have you seen from companies that are investing in
Speaker 1: technology to help fortify their retail business.
Speaker 3: The pandemic changed human behavior, and we saw that impact
Speaker 3: retailers differently and to rapidly adapt to behavioral change, you
Speaker 3: need data and this is one of the ways that
Speaker 3: technology help retailers. So if you have consistent, objective data
Speaker 3: to guide your decisions, then you adapt faster, learning and
Speaker 3: changing your processes and procedures, adapting to the market as
Speaker 3: part of the system, as opposed to people saying now
Speaker 3: we have to change. Change becomes part of your culture.
Speaker 3: And as Charlie said, right now, the arrow is pointing
Speaker 3: towards increasing the productivity of the people you have because
Speaker 3: you cannot hire too many of them. Retailers that are
Speaker 3: rapidly expanding right now, but one of the things they
Speaker 3: don't want to drop is the customer experience. So you
Speaker 3: want to automate things that are not visus to the
Speaker 3: customer that is behind the desk, and you want to
Speaker 3: allow the employee to personally interact with the customers so
Speaker 3: that they get that in person experience so that they
Speaker 3: want to come back.
Speaker 1: Yeah, I would like to talk a little bit more
Speaker 1: about the technology specifically, what would the customers feel, what
Speaker 1: would they experience that would be different, whether it be price,
Speaker 1: better information, better stock availability. What are some of the
Speaker 1: tangible things that a person like myself just walking into
Speaker 1: a store would actually experience.
Speaker 2: So all of the questions you've post I think exactly
Speaker 2: that's what the role of technology is. However, I see
Speaker 2: the technology as something that will augment enhance existing experiences.
Speaker 2: As an example, in all days, the only way I
Speaker 2: would get introduced to products, new products was through stores
Speaker 2: were the curators of the product. That is not true anymore.
Speaker 2: We are introduced to new products through social media channels,
Speaker 2: through all sorts of other technology. Then we go in
Speaker 2: the stores. I'm not necessarily a lot of I'm looking
Speaker 2: for that product in the store. I already know it.
Speaker 2: I probably have done a lot of research as well,
Speaker 2: so I'm not just relying on the associate to tell
Speaker 2: me everything about too often because I'm only focused on
Speaker 2: that one product. So I know a lot more than
Speaker 2: an associate probably can because he or she has to
Speaker 2: worry about thousands of fiscus in the store. So now
Speaker 2: the focus is not so much about curating the products
Speaker 2: more about meeting my needs there. So maybe when I
Speaker 2: walk in the store, can you help me find the
Speaker 2: product easily? Technology can help to make sure that they
Speaker 2: have the right products in the store. Because now with
Speaker 2: artificial intelligence supply chains will be way more efficient. Technology
Speaker 2: like computer vision or RFID can help you to make
Speaker 2: sure that you have products on the shelf. Technology can
Speaker 2: also make sure that you are able to deliver more
Speaker 2: personalized experience to shopper in all kinds of retail setting,
Speaker 2: not just high end stores.
Speaker 3: So I want to point out that there are different
Speaker 3: types of customers and for some customers this omnichannel experience
Speaker 3: where they enhance their experience through online knowledge is very important,
Speaker 3: and sometimes we become a different customer ourselves at different days.
Speaker 3: For instance, sometimes I'm in a hurry. I'm there just
Speaker 3: to find one thing, and I really want to know
Speaker 3: where exactly it's in the store, and I want to
Speaker 3: just start there get it come out. There are other
Speaker 3: times when I want to be at my leisure, I
Speaker 3: want to discover new things. And for the retailer also,
Speaker 3: they want to inspire their customers and lead them to
Speaker 3: spontaneous purchases. So you want to create an experience for
Speaker 3: those people who have time in their heads. It becomes
Speaker 3: a challenge, of course to provide these different types of
Speaker 3: experience all at the same time in the same store.
Speaker 3: So given this challenge, you need to customize technology to
Speaker 3: the different needs. I want to point out some of
Speaker 3: the technology that you actually want to be invisible. You
Speaker 3: put it there, it makes life easier, but the employees
Speaker 3: or the customers don't even need to think about it.
Speaker 3: So taking such a technology and making it disappear is
Speaker 3: one of the goals of technology companies, and a lot
Speaker 3: goes in the background of making that possible. Artificial intelligence
Speaker 3: at its best is one of the empowering technologies that
Speaker 3: makes it possible, and one of the interesting things ABOUTNOLO.
Speaker 3: There are different ways it can become visible. For instance,
Speaker 3: there's a lag, so you're doing something and you're expecting
Speaker 3: your response and it takes forever for it to actually happen.
Speaker 3: Why does that happen? Of course, as a customer, I
Speaker 3: don't care. I'm just waiting there and it's not responding.
Speaker 3: But from a technological point of view, that tells us, well,
Speaker 3: maybe there's a communication link right between the store and
Speaker 3: the cloud and that's taking a long time to go
Speaker 3: and come back. Well, maybe I need to put things
Speaker 3: at the edge, meaning the store, right where the customer is,
Speaker 3: and then you can take that data that's happening. Whatever
Speaker 3: the customer said, or the object they put on the
Speaker 3: counter and process it, respond to it there and create
Speaker 3: that instant experience so that it disappears because the lag
Speaker 3: is the one that alerts to them that there's something
Speaker 3: going on there. So that leads us into edge AI,
Speaker 3: which is one of the things that huge industry working
Speaker 3: all together, has been able to put together recently. It's
Speaker 3: right now becoming feasible at actual locations.
Speaker 1: Coming up next on Technically Speaking and Intel podcast.
Speaker 3: Biggest advances in the last few years, and AI is
Speaker 3: technology that learns by itself.
Speaker 1: We'll be right back after a brief message from our
Speaker 1: partners at Intel. Welcome back to Technically Speaking an Intel podcast.
Speaker 1: I'm here now with Shailish Chowdhry and Akuttinghi. Chalie, I
Speaker 1: know that you have the team there at Intel working
Speaker 1: on these sorts of smart retail solutions at any that
Speaker 1: you can share with us, ones that you're quite excited about.
Speaker 2: Yes, we're actually working on a wide range of products
Speaker 2: and like majority of them are AI. Every retailer today
Speaker 2: is interested how they can use AI both to drive
Speaker 2: or productivity but also to drive better experience for us
Speaker 2: as shoppers. So I see two categories one is some
Speaker 2: of the larger retailers, they are in the front edge
Speaker 2: of innovation, so they are working on a lot of
Speaker 2: what I call pilots and demonstration projects. One of the
Speaker 2: examples at the checkout because checkout is one of the
Speaker 2: most critical experiences. Also, we're working on the projects which
Speaker 2: they call store automation, that has to do with better
Speaker 2: visibility the inventory, also the improving receiving and the operations
Speaker 2: the pack end. We're also engaged in the projects which
Speaker 2: a lot of time gets referred to as last mile delivery,
Speaker 2: which is a lot of times they're shopping online that
Speaker 2: gets delivered through the physical retail and instead of opening
Speaker 2: massive distribution centers, a lot of retailers already have stores
Speaker 2: in all around neighborhoods and they're starting to use them
Speaker 2: as their fulfillment centers, and they're upgrading a lot of
Speaker 2: them to deliver similar experience that some of the larger
Speaker 2: online retailers can within half an hour a you ordering
Speaker 2: a product and showing up at your door. The third
Speaker 2: area we're seeing a lot of interest is on personalization.
Speaker 2: So it's just not about mass personalization, it's about individual personalization.
Speaker 2: The one I'm really excited about. We cannot name who
Speaker 2: that retailer is, but that has to do with search.
Speaker 2: In spite of all the advances, Say, if I like
Speaker 2: a shirt that you're wearing, grab I don't go buy it.
Speaker 2: I have to go through like ten to fifteen searches
Speaker 2: to be able to find the same shirt unless I
Speaker 2: know exact brand and style. But with advances like Jenney AI,
Speaker 2: I should be able to find exact same shirt with
Speaker 2: literally one or two prompts. And that's going to be
Speaker 2: a game changer on how we shop and where we shop,
Speaker 2: but also how retailers are going to deliver the shopping
Speaker 2: experience for us.
Speaker 1: Yeah, so in that scenario, you might get your smartphone out,
Speaker 1: take a photo of someone with that shirt, searches for
Speaker 1: that vision to all the various local retail stores, and
Speaker 1: then be able to deliver it, or you can go
Speaker 1: pick it up and try it on and still have
Speaker 1: that in person experience.
Speaker 2: Absolutely in that scenario. The thing when I heard about it,
Speaker 2: the word that came to my mind that each and
Speaker 2: every one of us will be a walking model. Now,
Speaker 2: the social media has made a lot of people influencers,
Speaker 2: and that great, we are getting influence, but now everybody's
Speaker 2: an influencer, everybody's a.
Speaker 1: Model, and I could what are your thoughts around using
Speaker 1: computer vision, particularly more towards I guess the checkout experience.
Speaker 1: Do you think we could do away with barcodes or
Speaker 1: do you think there could be a time where we
Speaker 1: could almost go in and walk out and charge our cards.
Speaker 3: Well, we're still experimenting as a technology and retailers together
Speaker 3: as a team, and also customers as willing participants, are
Speaker 3: giving us great feedback. On one end was the vision
Speaker 3: of totally friction less checkout, right, so you walk in,
Speaker 3: you walk out, and automatically you get charged for whatever
Speaker 3: you bought. And we found that people did not respond
Speaker 3: very positively to the totally friction less experience. What we
Speaker 3: perceived as friction, like that hello from the employee was
Speaker 3: not friction. That was actually a positive thing. Don't discard that. Yes,
Speaker 3: and you might need help, and who's are to help?
Speaker 3: There needs to be somebody to help. So there was
Speaker 3: some adjustment there in terms of perception. What do customers
Speaker 3: actually want? So you don't want to turn your brick
Speaker 3: and mortar store into a glorified vending machine. So on
Speaker 3: the other hand, people do not enjoy scanning items either,
Speaker 3: so there needs to be some sort of middle ground,
Speaker 3: and I think that's the hybrid experience now that is
Speaker 3: gaining traction, where we mold the technology into the natural
Speaker 3: flow of the store and make each of those steps frictionless.
Speaker 3: So picking up the item is frictionless, you actually have
Speaker 3: real time inventory, much faster inventory check, and it's accurate.
Speaker 3: It starts there and then it goes towards putting your
Speaker 3: items and you don't have to scan them. Computer vision
Speaker 3: is used to recognize the items immediately, even if you
Speaker 3: put twenty of it takes the same amount of time.
Speaker 3: You just put it there, and then it may even
Speaker 3: actually say hey, that's an age verified item, automatically alerts
Speaker 3: the clerk. You don't have to call anybody, and then
Speaker 3: they're already there.
Speaker 1: What ACRED is describing this hybrid frictionalist experience that still
Speaker 1: provides for human touch when necessary might be the future
Speaker 1: of grocery shopping. And I think we can all agree
Speaker 1: that an experience like this one will make running errands
Speaker 1: or picking up milk and bread on the way home
Speaker 1: from work simpler for all of us. But what about
Speaker 1: the business owner's tasks? With implementing this frictionless experience. If
Speaker 1: we take employees largely out of the equation, do we
Speaker 1: also lose some of the oversight that keeps people from
Speaker 1: forgetting to scan their items? Does this technology make it
Speaker 1: easier for customers to steal from the store? Retail stores
Speaker 1: lost and estimated eighty seven billion to theft in the
Speaker 1: United States in twenty twenty two, and this could reach
Speaker 1: one hundred and fifteen billion by twenty twenty five. So
Speaker 1: I asked Shelish about the challenges businesses my face as
Speaker 1: they adopt this frictionless experience when it comes to product
Speaker 1: loss and product theft.
Speaker 2: Very interesting topic and we've been seeing this debate as well.
Speaker 2: And Graham, the product loss that a lot of time
Speaker 2: gets referred to as shrink has always been part of industry,
Speaker 2: So it includes not just the product loss due to theft,
Speaker 2: but also a product that gets lost during shipping, during receiving,
Speaker 2: so that a lot of different ways that product loss
Speaker 2: can happen. Now when it comes to theft, there are
Speaker 2: multiple elements there as well. So one is organized crime
Speaker 2: and one is just consumer trying to sometimes mislabeled products.
Speaker 2: Other times it's just not even scanning products. What does
Speaker 2: computervision allows us to do is accurately see a product.
Speaker 2: Now you can what product is. You're not just relying
Speaker 2: on the barcode that somebody may have switched. So it's
Speaker 2: actually in that instance will help you reduce the product loss.
Speaker 2: If somebody doesn't scan a product, there's an alert that
Speaker 2: gets sent to store associate. So what we are seeing
Speaker 2: is in the back of the store. A lot of
Speaker 2: loss happens there as well, and you'll be surprised how
Speaker 2: in a creator receiving is a part of it, and
Speaker 2: computervision technology can help drive the accuracy in the receiving
Speaker 2: and further reducing the product class. So these are some
Speaker 2: of the early reserves that we have seen in the
Speaker 2: pilot and these are all read examples.
Speaker 1: Yeah, because I was thinking of that trade off between
Speaker 1: what you call the customer experience and this computer vision,
Speaker 1: because I went to a new self checkout and I
Speaker 1: think it detected my hand going over the scanner but
Speaker 1: without a product, and it thinks that I didn't scan
Speaker 1: it properly, and it kind of alerted the shop as
Speaker 1: system next to me. So I guess, as you say,
Speaker 1: it is a journey but the positive thing is that
Speaker 1: there was a person there. It wasn't like the alarms
Speaker 1: and everything and the security guards coming down bearing down
Speaker 1: my neme. So is there any day that you've seen
Speaker 1: and some of the trends around product loss and product theft,
Speaker 1: particularly around that sort of self checkout area.
Speaker 3: Yes, we hear from our customers that it is a
Speaker 3: top concern of theirs loss in general and not just theft,
Speaker 3: as Shylish very aptly described. But one of their biggest
Speaker 3: problems is food waste, and it is part of their
Speaker 3: business model. It can be improved massively by AI models,
Speaker 3: but also alerting the store employees, Hey, that item there
Speaker 3: has been sitting there for more than three hours. You
Speaker 3: need to remove that so that the quality is preserved,
Speaker 3: basically balancing waste and quality at the same time, but
Speaker 3: also ringing up the right item. Not everything has a
Speaker 3: barcode in a store. So you pick up a hot dog. There'sn't,
Speaker 3: thank god, a barcode on the hot dog. So you
Speaker 3: picked it up, maybe you put some condiments, maybe that's
Speaker 3: price separately, right, ringing that up right now requires the
Speaker 3: employee to ask you, what do you have there? Right,
Speaker 3: so that already extends the process and the accuracy of
Speaker 3: the reporting and so on. I mean, we need to
Speaker 3: really for the environment too, we need to lower food waste.
Speaker 3: So if you do accurate checkout and you know exactly
Speaker 3: what was picked up and you ring it up, then
Speaker 3: you improve on waste. So the important thing there is
Speaker 3: doing the right thing at the right time, and that
Speaker 3: helps your inventory controls, that helps your customer experience, that
Speaker 3: helps your shrink.
Speaker 1: And Shelly, I just wanted to get a like a
Speaker 1: final thought from yourself if you were in the retail
Speaker 1: industry and you're a manager there, what's the top issue
Speaker 1: or consideration they should be thinking about if they want
Speaker 1: to implement this sort of technology that we've been talking
Speaker 1: about today. What are some of the challenges that they
Speaker 1: need to be on the lookout for. What are some
Speaker 1: of the intelligent questions they can ask their vendors to
Speaker 1: make sure that they're getting the best value from their
Speaker 1: time and money.
Speaker 2: Now, that's a great question at a question that comes
Speaker 2: up a lot. So I think everybody sees the potential
Speaker 2: of what not just computer vision, but AI in general,
Speaker 2: will bringing The challenge they're facing is threefour One is
Speaker 2: the cost. So in this first stage. Majority of them,
Speaker 2: especially with computer vision, are using specialize ecceletors for AI
Speaker 2: that are very expensive. The second challenge that comes up
Speaker 2: is availability of an ecosystem of technology providers. So while
Speaker 2: large detaders have the resources both financial resources but also
Speaker 2: the engineers and data scientists to go work on the
Speaker 2: concepts that they can try understand the ROI, but majority
Speaker 2: of the retailers do not have those resources and they
Speaker 2: really need an ecosystem for partners. The third one is
Speaker 2: the ROI the time to really get returns on their investment.
Speaker 2: Those are the three questions. The good news is I
Speaker 2: think they're starting to change and one of the technologies
Speaker 2: that I'm excited about that will help with the cost
Speaker 2: as well as with the ecosystem is AIPC concept. The
Speaker 2: reason I'm excited about this because this is a technology
Speaker 2: there's an extension of existing PC technologies and it is
Speaker 2: not any specialized hardware. This already runs all of the
Speaker 2: applications because in retail store, most of whether you're talking
Speaker 2: about point of sale CHAOS or other instare devices. They're
Speaker 2: all embedded PCs, so that will significantly reduce the cost
Speaker 2: and att as first challenge, but that's also the technology
Speaker 2: that a lot of technology products are very familiar with.
Speaker 2: Now they have to augment what they're doing rather than reinvite.
Speaker 1: Our regular listeners to Technically speaking, might recognize that term CHAI.
Speaker 1: Let's just referred to the AIPC, which we covered in
Speaker 1: episode three of this season. Aipcs I think represent the
Speaker 1: future of computing. They'll incorporate cutting edge AI tech faster
Speaker 1: and more effectively than anything we've seen before, and in
Speaker 1: relation to today's conversation, they'll play a key role in
Speaker 1: a faster, more efficient world of retail. And these aipcs
Speaker 1: are relyingt on the Intel Core Ultrapersonessa Wish debuted last
Speaker 1: year in twenty twenty three and offers the best AIPC
Speaker 1: experience to mobile platforms and right out to the edge,
Speaker 1: and it will power more than two hundred and thirty
Speaker 1: models of the world's first aipcs. But given how much
Speaker 1: of a game changer this Intel tech represents for the
Speaker 1: retail industry, I want you to know some of the
Speaker 1: challenges business owners would consider when attempting to adopt this.
Speaker 1: He's acred with the.
Speaker 3: Answer, So focus on the total cost and that will
Speaker 3: lead you to Okay, this software vendor works only on
Speaker 3: this hardware that is very expensive and custom and is
Speaker 3: not available. That's not going to scale out in two
Speaker 3: three years. So that's a very important part. And part
Speaker 3: of that problem of scaling is adaptability. So a lot
Speaker 3: of AI solutions they pilot very well, but then they
Speaker 3: stumble on expanding two thousand locations. So pay attention to
Speaker 3: whether the technology you're selecting has scaled out, has the
Speaker 3: adaptive features that is prerequisite, and then how expensive is
Speaker 3: it to this machine? Right? So let's say you have
Speaker 3: a computer vision technology that recognizes products, but as a retailer,
Speaker 3: you have new products coming in and their faces changes
Speaker 3: all the time and so on, and why are you
Speaker 3: going to have to have someone in the back constantly
Speaker 3: scanning items and teaching the device so that it remains
Speaker 3: accurate or does the technology automatically get to learn. So
Speaker 3: that's the biggest advances in the last few years in
Speaker 3: AI is technology that learns by itself and knows what
Speaker 3: it doesn't look. So basically you need to evaluate the
Speaker 3: technology what it tries to do, with all its failure
Speaker 3: mechanisms and all the edge cases right, and select the
Speaker 3: technology that adapts to the environment and during the pandemic,
Speaker 3: we also learned things can change in a hurry, and
Speaker 3: will your technology adapt with you with the circumstances. Can
Speaker 3: it actually work outside of the very narrow path that
Speaker 3: it was done for so that it continues being useful
Speaker 3: over the lifetime of a product. Retailers have long lifetime
Speaker 3: expectations for their technology. The technology has to last five
Speaker 3: ten years. Both the hardware and the software needs to
Speaker 3: be resilient work in a store environment, not be overly
Speaker 3: fickle and robust. So that's very important to evaluate before
Speaker 3: you actually choose the technology.
Speaker 1: Okay, I think I've learned a lot, and hopefully all
Speaker 1: listeners have as well. I could and Shaley, thanks very
Speaker 1: much for your time.
Speaker 3: Thank you Graham, Thank you Graham.
Speaker 1: Thank you to Shalley's childry A Denghi for their expertise
Speaker 1: in today's episode of Technically Speaking. The advent of trading
Speaker 1: between each other has been the cornerstone of our civilization
Speaker 1: and I think one of the main reasons for our
Speaker 1: advancement as a human race. Retail will continue to be
Speaker 1: a social experience, and any technology that can help bring
Speaker 1: people together and harmoniously trade with one another will continue
Speaker 1: to drive our society positively into the future. The advancement
Speaker 1: in AI and in particular computer vision will help all
Speaker 1: businesses large and small, be able to serve their customers
Speaker 1: better by making retail interactions more meaningful for the owners,
Speaker 1: it will allow them to serve their customers at a
Speaker 1: higher standard, even if they are challenges with staff shortfalls.
Speaker 1: For those with retail stores, the implementation of AI can
Speaker 1: seem daunting, but you can always try to experiment with
Speaker 1: the technology discussed in today's episode at a small scale.
Speaker 1: This is so you can continue to build confidence and
Speaker 1: continue need to learn. Remember you are the expert in
Speaker 1: your field. AI is there to lift you to the
Speaker 1: next level. In our next episode, we will look at
Speaker 1: how AI is helping improve manufacturing holiday So join us
Speaker 1: on June eighteenth or the next edition of Technically Speaking
Speaker 1: and Intel podcast. Technically Speaking was produced by Ruby Studio
Speaker 1: from iHeartRadio in partnership with Intel and hosted by me
Speaker 1: Graham Class. Our executive producer is Molly Sosher, our EP
Speaker 1: of Post Production is James Foster, and our supervising producer
Speaker 1: is Nikia Swinton. This episode was edited by Sierra Spreen
Speaker 1: and written by nick Firschel,