2045: Machines Will Shop For Humans
Just at the start of this century, we never imagined that our entire financial assets would be managed with our mobiles. We never imagined that phone commerce will replace physical shopping. We never imagined remote and hybrid work possibilities. With the convergence of Artificial Intelligence (AI), machine learning (ML), Augmented Reality – Virtual Reality (AR-VR), drones, eVTOLs and other autonomous vehicles, the way we know what is currently – shopping – is bound to disappear in the next 20 years.
Robot Sales Assistants
Artificial Intelligence algorithms will automate in-store operations of whatever is left in stores. It can further replace sales personnel with robots to assist customers, make digital payments enhanced and automated and stocks replenished with real-time tracking of shopping trends and orders. Robots and drones will work seamlessly to restock store shelves to optimise what’s fast-moving! Before we think further, did we say consumers will shop? In the next few years brain-computer interface (BCI), a technology that enables direct communication between a human brain and a computer, will be used to control devices and sensors. Imagine a scenario where humans would control their digitally wired surroundings, using just their thoughts. Shopping will take on a different meaning with BCI – users could browse products and make purchases using only their thoughts. This could make the world inclusive, by making it accessible for people with disabilities or physical impairments.
BCI Ordered Merchandise
By analysing a customer’s brain signals, retailers can receive insights into their needs, wants, emotions, and preferences and push products or services accordingly. This could change the way we market, using the conventional demand-supply theory. The newer pricing power could shift to a pricing basis of what is the need vs want, and the intensity of such an emotion. In addition, it is completely possible that 3D printing will be advanced enough to print almost any product on demand. It could change the way we perceive large manufacturing bases. This surely would impact the way people shop, as they won’t have to wait for products to be manufactured and shipped like current processes. Powered by batteries, Electric Vertical Takeoff and Landing (eVTOL) aircraft is an electrically powered aircraft (instead of usual jet engines), that can take off and land vertically (like a helicopter). Imagine you just BCIordered some decor items and some FMCG SKUs from your shopping app. An eVTOL takes off from a remote location to get to a dark store, avoiding all traffic. At that dark store, they have 3D-printed your decor SKUs, and the robots pick up the FMCG SKUs and load them onto the eVTOL. The eVTOL delivers your order, and the process is complete. If you have asked for a window-sill delivery, mini drones will deliver precisely at the GPS-mapped coordinates in your apartment building window sill. At some point in the future, eVTOL will shape into autonomous vehicles (AV). By that point in time, with drop-in technology costs and increased volumes, AVs could be cheaper and safer than human-driven vehicles.
Indoor Farming
The concept of food production could also improve with technologies. We could see more indoor farming to produce food, hyper-locally, in places which could get vacant with technological disruption, and with vertical wall gardens all around our cities. Add mini food processing units as a value chain in the same locations. With developments in AR and VR technology, customers can have an immersive shopping experience without stepping out of their chairs – be it trying on clothes that they want to order or seeing how their home decor would look.
Smart Refrigerators
Human-inhabited spaces – homes, offices, malls, hospitals, etc. will have robots and sensors with distinct roles. Your refrigerator will automatically order to replenish the depleting stocks on its shelves. Cameras and sensors embedded in your refrigerator will adjust your stock to ensure nutritious alternatives, basis your medical records. Similarly, your medicine cabinet will alert you, if you miss taking your prescribed medication dosage, and will reorder medicines for depleting stocks. Sensors in the toilet commode will scan human waste for potential health alerts. Homes will have sensors to keep themselves in good condition – say issues like water leakage, pest control breakage of any walls or tiles, etc. can be assessed by the sensors to alert you or service providers. Emerging technologies such as renewable energy, carbon capture and storage, and smart grid systems, could help reduce greenhouse gas emissions and mitigate the impacts of climate change. In the next 30 years, humans may not just buy, but technology could shop on their behalf. Humans will want to live where technology serves them, and not vice versa. ‘Good-forsociety’ objectives have to be defined by what positive outcomes would enable a better quality of living. Societal implications of new technologies and the social cost of technologies have to be factored in. The challenges for society and regulators would be how to manage data lakes, consumer intent, and privacy constraints. Improvements to the quality of life are welcome, as long as they bring that to everyone, and not just a few. Importantly enough, technologies should not deplete natural resources. It is to be to ensure that emerging technologies are developed and used in an ethical and responsible manner, with a focus on improving the well-being of all members of society.
