Will It Be Possible to Create A Fully Autonomous Store?

Walking into a convenience store is meant to be quick and seamless, but often when a crowd appears, long lines can make shopping tedious and frustrating. The rise of artificial intelligence (AI) has made its way into shopping. CEO and Co-Founder Steve Gu sits down with What Just Happened? Host Christine Russo on the direction of AI in retail.

While the use of e-commerce is growing, many consumers still crave physical spaces, including shopping in stores. “I believe that roughly more than 80% of the transactions still happen in the physical world,” Gu said. “As humans, we still need to interact with physical objects and even though many of us are fans online, myself included the majority of the activities we do still happen in the world, and that’s where we think AI can play a huge role.”

AiFi’s new partnership with the Miami Dolphins and the Detroit Lions allows fans to scan a QR code, a credit card, or an app to tap and pay, then they simply grab their item and go back to their intended viewing. “I want them to leave as quickly as possible like a Google search engine because I know their goal is to come and leave so they can focus on their game. And in the end, we want a fully autonomous store, or a shop that can run essentially by itself,” Gu said.

The beauty of AiFi, Gu further explained is that they partner with retailers, they do not compete with them. “We are a technology firm by heart. We’re not retailers but we chose to work with retailers to make all this amazing shopping experience happen because we know the future is in AI,” he said.

AiFi plans to fit its products into more local mom-and-pop stores and other venues around the world. “The best part of our system is that we can support different types of users, all based on the same operating platform. We tailor it to the needs of the client because we are flexible to work with, and we want to provide solutions,” Gu said.

More Stories Like This:

Introducing “What Just Happened?” with Christine Russo

AI is Driving Market Personalization

Follow us on social media for the latest updates in B2B!

Image

Latest

mobile gaming
From Flip Phones to Free-to-Play Empires: How Mobile Gaming Reshaped Business Models, Communities, and Esports
September 17, 2025

Mobile gaming has quietly become the largest segment of the global gaming industry, generating about $92 billion annually—more than both PC and console games. Yet for decades, many brands and agencies underestimated its reach, focusing instead on arena-filling esports tournaments or blockbuster console titles. With nearly everyone carrying a smartphone, however, mobile has become…

Read More
Revenue Cycle
Transformation Without Disruption: How Access Healthcare Is Rewiring the Revenue Cycle with Agentic AI
September 17, 2025

Hospitals are juggling shrinking margins and rising costs while denial volumes remain stubbornly high. In the revenue cycle alone, hundreds of billions are lost annually to preventable errors and inefficiencies—in fact, Access Healthcare CEO Shaji Ravi cites more than $250 billion wasted each year. Meanwhile, payers have accelerated their use of AI to adjudicate…

Read More
leading with intention
Making Meaning Out of Life’s Pause: Billie Whitehouse on Finding Strength, Setting Boundaries, and Leading With Intention
September 17, 2025

In June, Forbes profiled Billie Whitehouse, CEO and Creative Director of Wearable X, as she broke her silence about leading through a devastating health crisis. Diagnosed with stage 4 colon cancer at 27 while 22 weeks pregnant, Whitehouse underwent emergency surgery that ensured her survival, but came with the profound heartbreak of losing her…

Read More
Critical Care
Transforming the ICU Through Technology: Advances in Critical Care Telehealth Delivering Gold-Standard Care Anywhere
September 17, 2025

Critical care in the United States faces a mounting crisis. With a shortage of board-certified intensivists and younger, less experienced nurses filling ICUs, hospitals often struggle to provide timely, gold-standard care. Studies show that hospitals with board-certified intensivists in their ICUs see a 30% reduction in patient mortality, yet thousands of facilities still lack…

Read More