Lowe’s Just Gave Its Associates AI Superpowers

Lowe’s has quietly pulled off one of the biggest AI rollouts in U.S. retail—no flashy robots or jetpacks, just a powerful generative AI tool now live in 1,700 stores. But this isn’t your usual customer-facing assistant like Amazon’s Rufus. This one is for the humans behind the counter. By giving staff real-time access to everything from product specs to inventory data, the tool turns even first-week associates into seasoned experts. That’s a big win for both employees and the customers looking for help in Aisle 9.

According to tech analyst Shelly Palmer, this is a significant pivot: generative AI isn’t just being used to talk to shoppers, it’s enhancing the humans they interact with. The system is trained on Lowe’s internal knowledge base, connecting frontline workers to the same institutional know-how that was previously buried in clunky systems or locked in the heads of longtime employees. It’s all about upping the in-store experience, especially as e-commerce keeps raising the bar on customer expectations.

With staffing challenges continuing across retail, AI tools like this aren’t just nice-to-haves—they’re now essential infrastructure. Lowe’s isn’t betting on AI to replace jobs, but to boost their effectiveness and consistency. And with one of the largest deployments in the industry, they’re setting a new standard for how physical retail can stay competitive against digital-first experiences.