What were the initial motivations for using artificial intelligence at IKEA?
Artificial intelligence and technology as a way to respond to people's needs
We are a retail company, but recently, like most businesses, we have undergone a huge transformation from a typical cash and carry to an omnichannel business.
Our mission is to create a better life for many people. We want to increase the availability of our solutions for our clients. Nowadays, this is only possible with the use of technology. A similar motivation appears in the context of AI and the possibilities of this technology to respond even better to the needs of our employees, clients and customers.
What goals did you set before you decided to implement AI at IKEA?
Technology is not an end, but a means to develop our business and IKEA as a workplace.
At IKEA, we did not choose to "implement AI" as an end in itself.
Activities related to digitization and new technologies are an integral part of IKEA's global business strategy, which aims to create new opportunities and always puts people and their needs at the center of attention.
We want to increase our accessibility to offer the best possible shopping experience, personalize our offer while always ensuring affordability. We also intend to improve our workplace through, among other things: new tools for our employees to develop their competencies and perform tasks more effectively.
Technology and AI can support us in this.
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How long did it take you to implement AI at IKEA and what challenges did you face?
We have been working with artificial intelligence globally at *IKEA Ingka for years, of course this technology is becoming more advanced over time and thus has a wider application.
A very important challenge in the era of rapid development of AI, including generative models, and the still missing various types of regulations, is an ethical and humanistic approach to the development of this technology.
That is why, as a global organization, we have taken up the challenge to lead in the ethical and humane use of AI. At IKEA, in our global division, we have a special team dedicated exclusively to "data ethics" the Digital Ethics & Responsible AI team.
In 2020, the Digital Ethics Policy was created and data ethics is one of the main areas of our digital strategy.
In 2023, a multi-functional artificial intelligence task force was established to support us in using technology in a safe and humane way.
Without waiting for regulations at the level of international organizations or countries, we have developed, for example, internal rules for the use of ChatGPT.
Within these rules, we encourage certain behaviors, e.g. do not enter business data, do not assume that Chat knows everything, and always verify the facts presented by ChatGPT. We want to learn and test technology while doing it in a way that is safe for our business, employees and customers.
What specific business benefits has artificial intelligence brought you in the context of development, especially in the field of automating work, generating reports or providing ready-made solutions for customers?
The main benefits of the solutions used so far relate to improving the shopping experience of our clients or creating completely new opportunities for them in their purchasing process. For example, the recently introduced functionality in our IKEA Kreativ app allows you to easily create three-dimensional photorealistic models of your own rooms, which can then be edited and organized using IKEA products.
Using your smartphone, you can delete the current furniture or keep only a few selected ones, add new ones from IKEA, move them, rotate them, and thus facilitate the purchase decision in a way that has not been known before.
Other benefits of technology include process automation. For example, in Remote Customer Meeting Place (formerly Domolinia), we implemented automatic authorizations and withdrawals of funds. With BOTS handling 50% of our clients' transfers, we've freed up our staff's time to focus on more complex tasks like interior planning.
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