How Albertsons Companies is reimagining retail from the inside out

Albertsons Companies is expanding its use of artificial intelligence through an ongoing partnership with OpenAI, leveraging ChatGPT Enterprise and the OpenAI API to streamline internal workflows and enhance customer experiences. Serving over 36 million weekly customers across more than 2,200 stores under brands like Safeway, Albertsons, Vons, Jewel-Osco, Shaw's, ACME, and Tom Thumb, the retailer is applying AI to digital shopping, store operations, fulfillment, and merchandising. According to Jill Pavlovich, SVP of Digital Customer Experience at Albertsons Companies, the initiative aims to reduce friction and simplify everyday shopping. A central element of this rollout is the new Safeway experience in ChatGPT, which enables customers to use recipes, photos, digital lists, or simple prompts to surface relevant products and savings, build a cart, and proceed to Safeway to check out. This capability expands on existing Ask AI tools and is slated for future deployment across Albertsons' other grocery banners. Behind the scenes, Albertsons combines predictive models with generative AI to offer data-driven recommendations and promotional insights for merchants. By developing capabilities in focused areas first, the company seeks to build repeatable practices and scale innovation across the enterprise, reflecting a broader investment in modernizing retail operations through advanced language and commerce applications.