Retail Re:Mix | Dubai September

AI in retail: From assistants to agents

‍We kicked off Retail Re:Mix Dubai with a round of Networking Bingo, breaking the ice and setting the stage for an evening of big ideas and real connections.

The buzz carried right into the panels, where C-level leaders, innovators, and practitioners from across the retail ecosystem, from digital natives to legacy retailers, came together to unpack how agentic AI is reshaping retail today, while also surfacing the big questions for tomorrow.

Key discussion themes

• AI’s Evolution: Moving beyond scripted chatbots to autonomous systems that can reason, adapt, and act.
• Human Touch: How AI can enhance customer experiences without replacing human connection.
• Guardrails and Risk: The need to balance AI’s excitement with responsible frameworks.
• Retail in Action: The ways AI agents are already reshaping operations and marketing strategies.
• Pace of Adoption: The dilemma of moving fast enough to stay competitive without stumbling.
• Context Matters: Why AI must be applied to the right problems to create real value.

Key takeaways‍

• AI in retail is already here — it’s reshaping both customer engagement and operations today.
• Success lies in balance: efficiency through automation while keeping the human element central.
• Responsible adoption requires strong guardrails and clear context.
• Timing is critical — adopt too slowly and you risk irrelevance, move too fast and you risk failure.

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