Retail giants are mining loyalty data to create hybrid intelligence and optimise everything from customer clicks to warehouse logistics. But what are the real gains, where does the human fit in, and can we trust the machine?

The first sign that the world has changed for good hit me in a parking lot. I had booked my car for a service online, expecting the usual black hole of silence. Instead, a real human phoned me to confirm my appointment.

If you are from a different generation, this is a normal occurrence. To me, it felt like a glitch in the matrix. My bank, my network provider, my workflows... almost everything in my life is automated.

Meanwhile, the prophets of progress are getting louder. Every pitch deck promises the same miracles, and I swear if I hear one more time how machine learning will unlock my business potential, I may just scream.

Whether we like the language or not, AI is wrapped around every part of the South African retail machine. It influences the price of your groceries, the products you see when you scroll, the route your delivery driver takes through peak hour traffic.

"My view is that if you're not busy adopting or looking to adopt AI, you are going backwards." That's the opinion of Sean Ellis, head of shared learning at Benchmarking and Manufacturing Analysts.

The numbers back him up. Research and consulting firm <a...