The AI assistant is initially launching to 280,000 Tesco colleagues, before being rolled out to all customers later this year.
Tesco has launched a trial of an AI assistant built into the supermarket’s app, with which customers can converse to find personalised recipes ideas and add the required ingredients to their basket.
The AI assistant is initially launching to 280,000 Tesco colleagues, before being rolled out to all customers later this year.
The assistant will be able to tap a customer’s previous shopping history and preferences to inform the recipes, account for different dietary requirements, and select meals that use leftover ingredients in the fridge or cupboard. This happens via a “natural, two-way dialogue” the supermarket said.
“We want to give customers the best possible experience every time they shop with Tesco, and this assistant gives us one more way to help them and make their lives a little easier,” said Tesco CEO Ken Murphy.
“Nobody is better placed than our colleagues to help us get this experience right; they understand the customers and communities they serve, and we cannot wait to see how they help shape and improve the assistant in the months ahead.”
Tesco said it will be looking to “develop and upgrade the assistant in the future”, and expand its functionality “so it can help customers with more parts of their day-to-day lives and provide them with a genuinely intelligent, helpful shopping experience”.
“In the long term, this assistant has the potential to transform the way people shop with us – harnessing the power of AI to personalise the shopping experience for our customers in ways that ultimately save them time and money,” Murphy said.
The supermarket’s in-house app, data science and engineering teams have been working with UK-based AI consultancy Tomoro AI – founded in 2023, in alliance with OpenAI – on the development of the new assistant, with the work taking place under strict secrecy protocols since autumn last year.
Tesco colleagues will “road test” the assistant as it rolls out to them over the coming weeks, and their feedback will “help build a first-class assistant, personalised to the needs of Tesco’s millions of customers” the supermarket said.
The retailer has doubled the size of its technology team over the last five years as it looks to improve the customer experience, and Tesco also recently signed a three-year strategic partnership with European AI start-up, Mistral, to develop new AI capabilities.
No comments yet