Artificial intelligence has quickly become a major spending priority. Worldwide AI spending is expected to reach $2.59 trillion in 2026, up 47% from the prior year. Much of that spending is coming from large cloud companies and technology vendors, but businesses across industries are also putting more money into the technology.
Retailers are part of that shift. In the past month, 42% of consumers used at least one AI tool while shopping. Another 17% used AI for product recommendations, and 10% interacted with AI shopping assistants.
