AI in retail: Operationalising agentic AI with trust and transparency

Agentic artificial intelligence (agentic AI) represents a fundamental shift from reactive automation to autonomous decision-making systems. These systems can perceive environments, reason for complex scenarios, and take independent action to achieve specified objectives. Unlike previous generations of generative AI (GenAI) that respond to user prompts, agentic AI systems operate with inherent autonomy, managing end-to-end workflows without constant human intervention. The retail industry stands at the forefront of agentic AI adoption. Organisations are deploying autonomous agents in customer service, inventory management, dynamic pricing and personalised commerce; however, this autonomy introduces unprecedented risks. AI agents can hallucinate false information, be manipulated through adversarial attacks, make decisions misaligned with organisational values and propagate errors across interconnected systems. This paper examines critical dimensions essential for responsible agentic AI deployment in retail: strategic business applications that create differentiated value, and governance frameworks that establish trust through transparency and explainability. Organisations that effectively integrate these dimensions will harness agentic AI’s transformative potential while fostering stakeholder confidence and ensuring regulatory compliance. This article is also included in The Business & Management Collection which can be accessed at https://hstalks.com/business/.