For the first time a department store is considering appointing a humanoid Artificial Intelligence computer to its management board. The AI machine, developed by Deep Mind which beat the world Go champion recently, is apparently able to deal with the complexities of department store management, which are beyond the capacities of the IBM chess computer Deep Blue. The overall cost to the company is comparable to that of a top manager but without the stock options and pension provisions. The computer also improves as it learns and cannot be poached by another company. The department store, believed to be based in Korea, says it will gain huge competitive advantage worldwide. The new computer board member, named Cadie, can also be counted as a woman to help reach the required quota of female board members.