Kroger customers who use the retailer's AI-powered shopping assistant are building larger baskets, an early result that surprised Yael Cosset, the executive vice president and chief digital officer overseeing the company's digital strategy.

Speaking Tuesday during the opening session of Groceryshop 2026 in Las Vegas, Cosset said adoption of the shopping assistant has spread relatively evenly across Kroger's customer segments. He initially expected customers who gave the tool detailed instructions to buy fewer products because the assistant would narrow its recommendations.

Instead, removing some of the work involved in planning meals and building shopping lists appears to give customers more time to consider additional purchases.

"That's resulted in an incremental growth in that basket, which is obviously very positive for us as a retailer and also our CPG partners," Cosset said.

The assistant helps customers move from deciding what to prepare to placing the necessary items in their baskets. Shoppers can interact with the tool verbally or through text, handwritten recipes and photographs. A customer could, for example, ask it to plan a dinner for a family with different dietary restrictions and food preferences. The technology then recommends recipes and generates a corresponding grocery basket.

Cosset described the service as "directed inspiration" that closes the gap between finding meal ideas and shopping for ingredients.

Kroger plans to add more of its existing personalization capabilities to the assistant so recommendations reflect individual customers' shopping habits and preferences. Cosset said the technology could eventually lead to some degree of autonomous shopping.

AI extends behind the shelf

Kroger's AI investments extend well beyond the customer-facing tool. The retailer uses the technology for replenishment, forecasting and the process of grouping orders picked inside stores. Cosset said those operational systems are necessary to ensure the retailer actually has the products its digital tools recommend.

Helping a customer find ingredients for a Thanksgiving recipe does little good, he noted, if a needed size or variety is unavailable at checkout.

"AI behind the scene, behind the shelf, as I'd like to refer to it, is equally important," Cosset said.

The company uses trillions of forecasting dimensions to support its operations, he said. Kroger has moved some processes from systems that merely assist workers to technology that augments their work or operates autonomously.

Data remains Kroger's "crown jewel"

Cosset said Kroger's AI strategy begins with protecting the customer and operational data the company has accumulated. Retailers that fail to improve the quality and integrity of their data risk producing inaccurate AI results that could hurt the customer or employee experience.

"The data layer is probably underestimated," Cosset said. "If you don't address that data and stay committed to controlling the integrity of that data, you are going to inject some risk and some uncertainty and lack of accuracy in your artificial intelligence investment."

Kroger has built what Cosset called an AI gateway that sits above the company's data assets and data-science capabilities. The system allows Kroger to use its own models while incorporating technology from outside companies. The gateway processes several trillion tokens annually across customer-facing and employee applications, though Cosset declined to provide an exact figure.

The flexible approach matters because AI models are changing rapidly and no single provider has emerged as the certain long-term leader, he said. Kroger does not want to commit exclusively to one model or platform. The company wants to retain control of its proprietary data while adding technology from multiple partners when it can improve the customer experience.

"We're not in the business of choosing the winner," Cosset said. "Things are moving so fast."

Customer value comes first

Kroger applies several principles when deciding where to deploy AI, Cosset said. The first is whether an investment can produce value for customers. The company also seeks to ground its systems in reliable first-party data, retain human oversight and continually verify the technology's results.

Although companies face pressure to introduce AI tools quickly, speed without a clear direction can create substantial costs and risks, he said.

"Speed with precision in direction is good," Cosset said. "Speed in the wrong direction is quite expensive and can undermine a business."

Cosset also cautioned retailers against adopting technology simply because AI has become a popular corporate priority. Companies should determine which capabilities they want to own, where they will invest and what they are unwilling to surrender to outside technology providers.

"It's very easy to spend a lot of energy, a lot of tokens, a lot of time on things that are ultimately just another shiny object," Cosset said.

Kroger has also focused on teaching employees how to use the technology. Associates have access to multiple AI models and tools, and the company provides training through a program Cosset described as an "AI driver's license." The goal is to help workers understand what the technology can do and how it should be used.

Cosset said AI's broader opportunity is to eliminate the division between stores and digital shopping. Customers generally do not begin by choosing a channel, he said. They begin with a need, such as preparing a family meal. Retailers should use technology to make it easier for customers to satisfy that need whether they shop online or inside a store.

The companies that succeed, Cosset said, will be those that earn customers' trust by understanding their needs and reliably delivering what they promise.

"The retailer who can earn our trust — your trust, my trust, all of our trust — in satisfying the family dinner," he said, "somebody who understands us, knows us, cares about what matters to us and is reliable in bringing it to life."