Stuart Hubbard, senior director of Artificial Intelligence and advanced development at Zebra Technologies, comments on the implications of the UK Government’s AI Opportunities Action Plan, for frontline workers in the retail industry
“The AI Opportunities Action Plan sets out an aspirational vision, building on recent approaches by the previous government and EU which focused more on safety and ethics. Now is the time to invest in AI for growth, with public, private, and academic collaboration. This could prove the start of another important chapter in the UK’s invention and innovation story as it unlocks startups with funding, compute and data, following in the footsteps of Babbage, Lovelace, Turing, Berners-Lee, Hassabis and others.
“Attracting and retaining AI talent needs to go hand in hand with AI career-focused education in secondary schools, colleges, and universities, and upskilling the current workforce.
“Let’s also remember there’s a drive for low/no code AI solutions, and recent high capital investments from hyperscalers will make adoption and deployment faster and easier so more frontline workers, such as retail assistants, can use AI in their jobs.
“Findings from our recent Shopper Study highlight the need for such advancements, especially among retailers. Notably, almost 90% of frontline retail workers believe they can deliver a better customer experience when equipped with mobile technology tools that simplify real-time communication and task prioritisation.
“By integrating AI-driven solutions such as AI agents and computer vision with these tools, retailers can elevate the customer experience, improve asset and inventory visibility, and better engage their frontline workforce. Ninety percent of retail leaders in Europe say generative AI will have an extremely or very significant positive impact on inventory management and demand forecasting in the next three years, and 86% say GenAI will have an extremely or very significant positive impact on personalised shopper recommendations in the same time period.
“Compute power will be crucial for AI success and is robustly highlighted in the plan. Addressing the question around energy use will be needed to ensure AI remains a sustainable, ethical force for good, long term. We also need a mindset to match – experiment, deploy, scale.”
