Franziska \u201cFran\u201d Bell became Home Depot\u2019s chief technology officer in April, after most recently serving as chief data, AI, and analytics officer at automaker Ford Motor. Eleven months before her appointment, 27-year Home Depot veteran Angie Brown ascended to the role of chief information officer. And yet another key technology executive is Jordan Broggi, who became executive vice president of customer experience and the online channel in June 2024.<\/p>\n
Some of the top AI applications these executives oversee include an AI assistant called Magic Apron and a customer service AI system built with Google Cloud, the latter recently tested in 50 stores and proving during the pilot program that the voice agents could understand what a customer was calling about in 10 seconds. Internally, Microsoft Copilot has been made available to office workers, Anthropic\u2019s Claude coding system is helping speed up software development, and machine learning algorithms are guiding more efficient workflows for store associates.<\/p>\n
Brown says that all the AI investments need to link to one of three core priorities: support merchandising within the physical stores, cultivate an interconnected retail ecosystem that involves digital channels, and grow business with contractors, builders, and other professionals who tend to spend a lot more at Home Depot than do-it-yourself (DIY) shoppers.<\/p>\n
And while some technologists have recently aimed to focus their AI efforts on fewer, bigger use cases, Brown says she doesn\u2019t approach her investments with such a restrictive mindset.<\/p>\n
\u201cAm I going to limit the number\u00a0 of use cases that can leverage AI to solve a problem?\u201d Brown rhetorically asks. \u201cI don\u2019t want to. If AI can help solve those problems that we have already identified from a business perspective, I\u2019m not going to hold them back.\u201d<\/p>\n
Home Depot, ranked No. 25 on the Fortune 500, is among the retailers that have shown resilient sales even amid a muted economy and inflation fears from the war in Iran that have dampened consumer sentiment. Last month, the company reported that net sales grew 4.8% in the fiscal first-quarter from year-ago levels, though it acknowledged that homeowners were delaying larger projects due to worries about higher gas prices, layoffs, and other economic uncertainties.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Home Depot and rival Lowe\u2019s must also confront a weak housing market, which has been stung by stubbornly high interest rates and rising building material expenses. These headwinds are particularly inopportune for the spring market, traditionally the busiest for the housing sector.<\/p>\n
The company\u2019s top technologists divide up their work by giving Brown oversight of the company\u2019s technology strategy, infrastructure, cybersecurity, and software development. Broggi oversees Home Depot\u2019s $25 billion e-commerce business, merchandising, and the customer experience for digital channels, while Bell steers product management, data, and AI.<\/p>\n
One of Broggi\u2019s biggest projects has been Magic Apron, which can answer shopper questions and summarize product reviews and debuted in March 2025. Magic Apron\u2019s generative AI capabilities are trained on Home Depot\u2019s product data and contextualized, but Broggi said that when it launched, \u201cthe consumers loved it and the pros hated it.\u201d<\/p>\n
Home Depot learned that the web-based Magic Apron system was asking pros questions that were too simplistic. Home Depot pulled the pro version offline and is in the process of fine tuning the large language models for a better user experience for that group of shoppers.<\/p>\n
Magic Apron can also field questions from the retailer\u2019s employees. Brown is in the early stages of rolling out the functionality to their smartphones and another upgrade down the road will make the tool multilingual.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cGenerative AI is becoming more and more a part of everybody\u2019s life,\u201d says Brown, explaining why these AI assistant tools are being adopted by employees.<\/p>\n
Another AI use case is internally known as \u201corder intelligence,\u201d which looks backward at millions of data points from Home Depot\u2019s past deliveries and assesses a risk score that takes into account problems such as whether the property may require a gate code, or perhaps sits on a winding, narrow path where a 22-foot delivery truck is better than a 36-foot truck. The system can proactively reach out to customers with any potential problems and provide more accurate delivery times.<\/p>\n
Broggi says customers don\u2019t know or even care much that generative AI is working in the background. \u201cThey just want their stuff delivered on time, complete, undamaged, and with clear communication,\u201d he added.<\/p>\n
Another area of focus is developing a generative engine optimization strategy, known as GEO, as consumers spend more time shopping on AI chatbots like Google\u2019s Gemini, OpenAI\u2019s ChatGPT, and Claude. Home Depot allows shoppers to buy its goods on ChatGPT, while also supporting Google\u2019s Universal Commerce Protocol, which advocates for a common language to support agentic commerce.<\/p>\n
Broggi says that thus far, the retail strategy for the AI shopping platforms hasn\u2019t been clearly defined. The AI companies developing the platforms have changed priorities a couple of times, he said. \u201cThey\u2019ve got to try to figure out how they want to go to market.\u201d<\/p>\n
John Kell<\/strong><\/p>\n Send thoughts or suggestions to\u00a0CIO Intelligence here<\/em>.<\/p>\n Workers who don\u2019t embrace AI are more likely to be laid off.<\/b> Despite all the hoopla about the \u201cAI jobs apocalypse\u201d\u2014heightened by many firms across tech and elsewhere linking workforce reductions to AI\u2014a new study <\/span>published<\/span> by Gallup found that only 1% of laid-off workers say AI was a factor in their job loss. This factor was vastly dwarfed by organizational restructuring, budget cuts, and economic conditions, which are all far more standard explanations historically used by corporations to justify trimming jobs. But a look under the hood of these stats found that currently employed workers were more likely to be frequent AI users than their laid-off counterparts (28% versus 22%, which Gallup said is a \u201cstatistically significant difference.\u201d The gap is even higher for employees in the technology industry, Bloomberg <\/span>reports<\/span>, a sector that\u2019s been badly hit by layoffs in 2026, including at Meta Platforms, Salesforce, and Cisco Systems.<\/span><\/p>\n After Anthropic\u2019s model shutdown, should AI companies be wary of further interventions?<\/b> A <\/span>crackdown at Anthropic<\/span> has led to a flurry of news out of Washington, including a <\/span>report<\/span> from Politico that the Claude maker is working with the White House to develop a framework that would assess the security flaws of its Fable 5 and Mythos 5 models. The Fable 5 and Mythos 5 models were <\/span>taken offline<\/span> on June 13 after the U.S. government barred Anthropic from distributing the models to any foreign nationals, though President Donald Trump said <\/span>relations<\/span> between the government and Anthropic have gotten better. Some experts say model makers should be cognizant that the government could weigh in on AI again. \u201cNow that the Commerce Department has done it, no company can rule out that they\u2019re going to do it again,\u201d Kate Koren, a deputy director at the Center for Strategic and International Studies, <\/span>told<\/span> Bloomberg.<\/span><\/p>\n Getty\u2019s low share price gets a lift from OpenAI.<\/b> Following a disclosure over the weekend that the stock photography agency would license its images in the search and discovery features of ChatGPT, investors <\/span>more than doubled<\/span> the value of Getty\u2019s shares, though not such a mighty feat given the stock closed at 61 cents on Thursday. Still, Getty\u2019s business model was viewed as particularly threatened by AI due to the rapid rise of image generators, but by monetizing a licensing pact with OpenAI, Getty may be showing Wall Street there\u2019s a path forward to generate revenue from AI. Separately, OpenAI has announced some product news updates in recent days, including an <\/span>updated version<\/span> of its cybersecurity model and continues to move forward with plans to turn <\/span>ChatGPT into an all-purpose \u201csuper app\u201d<\/span> that can handle both simple tasks and more complex requests.<\/span><\/p>\n Top AI talent shuffles among hyperscalers. <\/b>There\u2019s been a flurry of AI executive and researcher changes among the leading AI companies, including news from Business Insider that Noam Shazeer, the founder of Character.AI and VP of engineering and co-lead of Google\u2019s Gemini, would <\/span>depart to join OpenAI<\/span>. Axios, meanwhile, <\/span>reported<\/span> that an AI policy advisor for the Trump administration, Dean Ball, was also heading to OpenAI. And John Jumper, vice president of Google DeepMind and winner of the 2024 Nobel Prize in chemistry for his work on AI, is <\/span>departing after nearly nine years<\/span> for rival Anthropic, according to Bloomberg. Fortune<\/em>, reporting on the departures at Google, says the loss of top talent is raising questions about the tech giant’s position within the AI race.<\/span><\/p>\n More than most C-suite leaders, CMOs control their own destiny on AI. <\/b>As advertisers and marketers are mingling in Cannes for the industry\u2019s most prestigious ad festival, a <\/span>new survey<\/span> finds that roughly half of chief marketing officers say they control their AI investment decisions. This group also feels greater pressure to deliver results, with 94% saying CEO expectations have \u201cincreased significantly over the past two years,\u201d according to a survey of 300 global CMOs conducted by consulting giant BCG.<\/span><\/p>\n \u201cWith that great power comes great responsibility,\u201d Mark Abraham, a managing director and senior partner at BCG, tells <\/span>Fortune<\/span><\/i>. \u201cIt’s not just around productivity gains anymore, it’s also about driving growth.\u201d He adds that only a third of CMOs are actually doing the difficult work that\u2019s needed to propel an AI transformation: investing in the tech stack, upskilling workers, and deploying AI agents.<\/span><\/p>\n Roughly four in ten CMOs say they are using generative AI only to assist human workers with discrete tasks, with just under a third reporting they\u2019ve moved to agent-led workflows. Only 8% report that they run campaigns in which multiple agents operate autonomously.<\/span><\/p>\n CMOs are focusing a lot more on responsible AI usage and ethics training and Abraham says this is an acknowledgement that marketers cannot just hire externally to fill talent gaps. So-called \u201cAI champions\u201d\u2014employees that are enthusiastic about experimentation with the technology\u2014are becoming stars within the department. \u201cThey\u2019re often not the most senior people; they\u2019re in the weeds, they\u2019re trying new tools,\u201d says Abraham. \u201cThey\u2019re also identifying what the weaknesses and issues with them are, so that the marketing function can work with the tech team to say, \u2018Okay, these are the three new tools that are going to help us leapfrog in content creation.\u2019\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n Courtesy of BCG<\/p>\n Hiring:<\/strong><\/p>\n – <\/span>C3 AI <\/b>is <\/span>seeking a CIO and VP<\/span>, based in Redwood City, California. Posted salary range: $285K-$325K\/year.<\/span><\/p>\n – <\/span>Oregon Tool<\/b> is <\/span>seeking a VP of global technology<\/span>, based in Portland, Oregon. Posted salary range: $240K-$260K\/year.<\/span><\/p>\n – <\/span>REI <\/b>is <\/span>seeking a VP of technology, digital commerce, and customer<\/span>, based in Seattle. Posted salary range: $275K-$360K\/year.<\/span><\/p>\n – <\/span>Spectrum <\/b>is <\/span>seeking a head of technology for the intelligence ventures unit<\/span>, based in New York. Posted salary range: $263.2K-$393.8K\/year.<\/span><\/p>\n Hired:<\/strong><\/p>\n – <\/span>Dollar General <\/b>announced<\/span> nine new executive appointments, including the promotion of Tom Hutchins to the role of CTO and Travis Nixon to serve as chief data and AI officer. Prior to joining the discount retailer in September 2024 as SVP of technology, Hutchins worked in retail technology for 25 years, including at Tractor Supply and Office Depot. Nixon, who joined Dollar General in 2025, previously worked at tech firms such as Dropbox, Meta, and Microsoft.<\/span><\/p>\n – <\/span>NASA <\/b>promoted<\/span> Sean Gallagher to serve as CIO, responsible for the space agency\u2019s entire portfolio of IT products and services. Gallagher had most recently served as deputy CIO for operations at NASA\u2019s headquarters in Washington. He also previously served as the CIO of the agency\u2019s Glenn Research Center in Cleveland. Prior to joining NASA in 2022, Gallagher worked at Booz Allen Hamilton as a senior associate.<\/span><\/p>\n – <\/span>Crowell & Moring<\/b> named<\/span> Andrea Markstrom as CIO. He joined the international law firm after most recently serving as CIO at another firm, Cadwalader, Wickersham & Taft. He has held executive technology and information roles at several firms, including Taft Stettinius & Hollister and Blank Rome.<\/span><\/p>\n – <\/span>FirstEnergy <\/b>appointed<\/span> Daniel Puscas to the role of CIO, joining the electric utility after most recently serving as a partner at Fortium Partners, which fills technology C-suite gaps with interim or project-based executive talent. Puscas also previously served as a director at consulting firm AlixPartners, where he served in multiple CIO and chief operating officer roles.<\/span><\/p>\n – <\/span>Cincinnati Financial<\/b> promoted<\/span> Ryan M. Osborn to the role of CIO, as John S. Kellington will retire from the position on August 7. Osborn initially joined the insurer in 2000 and most recently served as the director of shared services and the company\u2019s architecture program.<\/span><\/p>\n – <\/span>El Car Wash<\/b> announced<\/span> several executive appointments, including naming Ganesh Matha to the role of CTO. Matha joined the express car wash chain from hospitality chain MGM Resorts, where he most recently served as a vice president. Previously, Matha served as a senior manager for Walt Disney.<\/span><\/p>\n – <\/span>Elauwit<\/b> announced<\/span> the appointment of Nick Jones as CIO and chief operating officer. He joins WiFi service provider after most recently serving as VP and COO at television systems provider World Cinema. He also previously served as CEO at outsourced managed services provider NJT.<\/span><\/p>\n – <\/span>InnerActiv<\/b> appointed<\/span> Johnny Collins to the role of CTO, joining the cybersecurity firm from its peer Halcyon, where he most recently served as director of intelligence operations for its ransomware research center. Previously, Collins served as a managing director at KPMG and a director at Mandiant.<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n #Home #Depot #rebuilding #retailing<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Over the past few years, Home Depot has been rebuilding its business with more artificial intelligence intended to make shopping easier and workers more efficient. But the home-improvement retailer\u2019s tech-focused… <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":8968,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[1098,1099,1100,1988,1075,232,10551,3357,1076,11033],"class_list":["post-8967","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-finance-news","tag-chief-information-officer-cio","tag-chief-technology-officer-cto","tag-cio-intelligence","tag-depot","tag-fortune-500","tag-home","tag-home-depot","tag-rebuilding","tag-retail","tag-retailing"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.fintechpulse8.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8967","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.fintechpulse8.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.fintechpulse8.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.fintechpulse8.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.fintechpulse8.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=8967"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.fintechpulse8.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8967\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.fintechpulse8.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/8968"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.fintechpulse8.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=8967"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.fintechpulse8.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=8967"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.fintechpulse8.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=8967"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}NEWS PACKETS<\/h3>\n
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