AI for Retail

Introduction: Why You Need This Book as a Retail Leader

In the summer of 1997, I was 10 and just entering the fifth grade on the outskirts of Manhattan. My father and I would play chess together most nights, and I enjoyed it very much. That year was perhaps the most exciting time in chess history since its invention 1,500 years ago. On May 11, 1997, not far from my home in downtown Manhattan, World Chess Champion Garry Kasparov faced off against IBM supercomputer Deep Blue (see Figure I.1). In a battle of man versus machine, the world gasped as the unthinkable occurred. Kasparov stood up and walked away in game six, thereby conceding the game to Deep Blue. AI won. This was an omen to the world of the transformation AI was soon to cause. This irrevocably peaked my interest in computers. After that year, my love for chess evolved into a passion for computer programming and AI.

FIGURE I.1 Gary Kasparov vs. Deep Blue, May 11, 1997.

Source: STAN HONDA / Getty Images.

A year later, my sixth grade teacher brought our entire class on a field trip to visit the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE). I remember vividly as I entered the main hall, I was nearly knocked over by the raucous ballet of men and women in lab coats belting “SELL, SELL, SELL,” or “BUY, BUY, BUY.” If you haven't experienced this yourself, Ferris Bueller's Day Off does a great job documenting this wild skirmish. In the ...