What:  The NRF released a guideline of principles for the retail sector when using AI.

Why it is important: As AI is a rapidly growing technology that is being used by almost all retail players and businesses, the NRF has provided a guidelines for the use of artificial intelligence (AI) in the retail sector, aiming to ensure strong governance, prevent discrimination, promote transparency, and encourage ongoing oversight and review of AI applications.

The NRF Center for Digital Risk & Innovation has published principles for the use of artificial intelligence (AI) in the retail sector. These principles include:

• Governance and Risk Management: Retailers should develop strong internal governance practices for AI tools and capabilities, involving various stakeholders across the company. This includes risk management, oversight, and security throughout the lifecycle of AI applications.

• Customer Engagement and Trust: Retailers should develop and deploy AI applications in a manner consistent with applicable laws and regulations. Ongoing oversight and review of AI-enabled capabilities should be conducted to ensure compliance. Guidelines for employee use of generative AI tools should be provided, including warnings about inadvertently exposing trade secrets and non-public information.

• Workforce Applications and Use: Retailers should engage in ongoing oversight and review of AI applications that impact employees or support business needs.

• Business Partner Accountability: Retailers should establish clear guidelines and expectations for business partners providing AI tools and services. Integration of AI governance into third-party risk management activities and transparency about vendors’ AI governance is encouraged.

These principles aim to ensure effective governance of AI, support customer trust, prevent discrimination, and facilitate beneficial use of AI technologies in the retail sector. Retailers can tailor these principles to support their internal AI governance and strategic planning. NRF plans to update these principles periodically based on stakeholder input and changes in AI use within the retail sector.

Principles for the use of AI in the retail sector