Aaron Millstone

Retail has spent decades teaching systems what to do. Now, a new generation of domain-aware AI agents can interpret live conditions, reason through tradeoffs, and act - all within clear guardrails. This is more than a race for bigger models; it is a shift from programmed retail to autonomous retail.

Crucially, autonomy is no longer reserved for the largest enterprises. Modular architectures and AI-ready platforms are lowering the barriers to adoption, giving growing retailers access to capabilities once buried under massive cost, complexity, and specialized teams. But technology alone will not earn trust or deliver results.

This session examines the practical path to responsible, scalable agentic AI: where autonomy creates the most value, how leaders can govern decisions without slowing the business, and what must change across data, processes, people, and technology. The goal is not to automate everything. It is to help every retailer act faster, adapt smarter, and build an operation that can continuously improve.