Mentions of artificial intelligence within the filings of companies in the retail sector fell 38% between the first and second quarters of 2022.
In total, the frequency of sentences related to artificial intelligence between July 2021 and June 2022 was 256% higher than in 2016 when GlobalData, from whom our data for this article is taken, first began to track the key issues referred to in company filings.
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When retail companies publish annual and quarterly reports, ESG reports and other filings, GlobalData analyses the text and identifies individual sentences that relate to disruptive forces facing companies in the coming years. Artificial intelligence is one of these topics - companies that excel and invest in these areas are thought to be better prepared for the future business landscape and better equipped to survive unforeseen challenges.
To assess whether artificial intelligence is featuring more in the summaries and strategies of retail companies, two measures were calculated. Firstly, we looked at the percentage of companies which have mentioned artificial intelligence at least once in filings during the past twelve months - this was 54% compared to 21% in 2016. Secondly, we calculated the percentage of total analysed sentences that referred to artificial intelligence.
Of the 10 biggest employers in the retail sector, JD was the company which referred to artificial intelligence the most between July 2021 and June 2022. GlobalData identified 48 artificial intelligence-related sentences in the China-based company's filings - 0.9% of all sentences. Amazon mentioned artificial intelligence the second most - the issue was referred to in 0.5% of sentences in the company's filings. Other top employers with high artificial intelligence mentions included Kroger, Ahold Delhaize and Magnit.
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By GlobalDataAcross all retail companies the filing published in the second quarter of 2022 which exhibited the greatest focus on artificial intelligence came from JD. Of the document's 4,796 sentences, 46 (1%) referred to artificial intelligence.
This analysis provides an approximate indication of which companies are focusing on artificial intelligence and how important the issue is considered within the retail sector, but it also has limitations and should be interpreted carefully. For example, a company mentioning artificial intelligence more regularly is not necessarily proof that they are utilising new techniques or prioritising the issue, nor does it indicate whether the company's ventures into artificial intelligence have been successes or failures.
GlobalData also categorises artificial intelligence mentions by a series of subthemes. Of these subthemes, the most commonly referred to topic in the second quarter of 2022 was 'data science', which made up 41% of all artificial intelligence subtheme mentions by retail companies.
