Good morning. Technology's impact on retail is evident at the industry's major gathering. Smart shopping carts, smart warehouse components and more are on display, WSJ Pro editors Thomas Loftus and Kim S. Nash report. Also today: Intel's new CIO is focused on AI and machine learning. 

AI's growing impact on retail. The influence of artificial intelligence was evident Monday as retailers from around the U.S. gathered for their biggest annual conference. 

Attendees of the National Retail Federation’s 2020 Vision conference in New York, held Jan. 11 through Jan. 14, saw hundreds of exhibits from technology providers. Automation for stores and warehouses, much of it powered by bots and artificial intelligence, was on display. 

Seen on the show floor:

Pathr.ai, an analytics platform for shop-floor activity, combines a proprietary "behavior engine" with existing in-store cameras and other sensors to map customer interactions in real time. That latter point is key, according to Chief Operating Officer Ryan Parker. "Customers don't want to buy new hardware," he said.  Pathr.ai lets customers gain actionable insight from store activity. What are hotspots? The dead zones? Are store assistants interacting with customers? Which ones are most successful? All such actions are rendered in visuals similar to those play-action visuals on Monday Night Football, but more manic. Algorithms written by CEO George Shaw—like Mr. Parker, a former Intel Corp. employee—provide in-depth traffic analysis, helping identify potential high-value real estate on a show floor where staff would be most effective in closing a sale. And yes, the product is GDPR compliant.

In the NRF's innovation section, computer vision was big. Austin-based Pensa is incorporating autonomous drones into its real-time service for tracking store inventory. Small drones have the ability to jump over shelves and more easily capture images from a variety of angles, said Pinar Kaprali Gorsev, Pensa's head of product management.

To help train its computer vision system, Seattle-based Observa is paying 100 thousand smartphone owners to snap pics of store shelves.  The resulting product, which uses camera, helps retailers get real-time insight into whether products are stocked correctly to better drive sales.

Smart cart. An intelligent shopping cart from New York startup Caper Inc. uses image-recognition technology to identify items consumers place inside them. It also suggests related products. Shoppers can check out using a built-in card reader.

Smart warehouse, too. Fabric, a startup based in Tel Aviv, demonstrated automated crates that can travel warehouse floors to help pick products to fill e-commerce orders.

                                                                                   —Tom Loftus and Kim S. Nash

Corporate interest in venture capital is on the rise. Large technology companies have long maintained startup-investment programs, but now corporations across many non-tech industries are plowing more money into startups, WSJ Pro reports. The increased activity enables companies to keep tabs on nascent technology, provides early looks at potential acquisitions and hopefully helps stave off technological disruption. The number of non-tech corporate venture deals last year reached 256 through Dec. 6, up from 152 in 2009, according to data provider PitchBook Data. 

'A mix of investors.' Bilal Zuberi, a partner at Silicon Valley venture firm Lux Capital, estimated one-third of the companies in Lux’s portfolio have struck deals that involve corporate firms. Last year, Lux participated in a $160 million investment in 3D-printing startup Desktop Metal Inc. that featured a mix of investors, including private conglomerate Koch Industries and venture stalwart Kleiner Perkins.

A practice for the long-haul. Longtime venture capitalist Tim Draper, who currently invests through Draper Associates, said the keys to success for corporate venture firms include establishing a practice for the long haul, regardless of management changes, and structuring bonuses or venture-style compensation to enable investors to profit from big wins.

No one-size-fits-all approach for regulating AI. "The federal government urgently needs to work on crafting substantive, tailored AI policies that look at the ways these technologies are used in public contexts as well as private ones," writes R. David Edelman, who leads AI policy at MIT’s Internet Policy Research Initiative and previously advised the Obama White House, in a Washington Post op-ed.

Holding all AI applications to a single standard could be counterproductive, he argues, using the hypothetical example of a rule requiring that all decisions made by AI systems have a justification that makes sense to humans. "We probably need to understand every decision an autopilot system makes to ensure aviation safety, but in the case of medical diagnosis, explanation might not be as important as lifesaving accuracy," Mr. Edelman writes. He says the "principles for stewardship" of AI applications introduced in newly issued federal regulatory guidance are an early step in the right direction. 

Archana Deskus will start as the chip maker’s CIO on Jan. 30, reporting to Chief Financial Officer George Davis, Agam Shah reports for WSJ Pro. Ms. Deskus will take on the role temporarily occupied by Aziz Safa, vice president of information technology, who became interim CIO after the departure in August of Paula Tolliver.

Ms. Deskus was hired from Hewlett Packard Enterprise Co., where as CIO she led a project called NextGen IT, which involved the overhaul of internal IT systems and the integration of enterprise resource planning systems running core business processes.

Ms. Deskus’ exposure to artificial intelligence and supercomputing products at HPE will help the chip maker’s transition to AI and higher-margin markets, said Kevin Krewell, principal analyst at Tirias Research LLC, which tracks the semiconductor industry.

“It’s a good opportunity to increase diversity in upper management and work to better understand the technology they bring to market,” Mr. Krewell said.

In Korea, consultants help job seekers best the bots. Top Korean firms are rolling out artificial intelligence in hiring, and jobseekers want to learn how to beat the bots, Reuters reports. Careers consultant Park Seong-jung is among those in a growing business of offering lessons in handling recruitment screening by computers, not people, Reuters says. Video interviews using facial recognition technology to analyze character are key, according to Park. “Don’t force a smile with your lips,” he told students. “Smile with your eyes.”

Wells Fargo struggles with aging systems. Antiquated systems have made it difficult for Wells Fargo to meet the demands of regulators, who are closely scrutinizing the firm after its 2016 fake-account scandal, the Journal's Rachel Louise Ensign writes, citing more than a dozen current and former employees. “We need to be a technology company,” Chief Executive Charles Scharf said in his first meeting with employees after taking the job in October.

Write to Enterprise Technology Editor Steven Rosenbush and Pro AI Deputy Editor John McCormick.

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