Miya Knights, analyst, writer and publisher of Retail Technology, appears on the Counter Culture podcast with host Bruce Ackland. The episode centers on agentic AI — autonomous software agents that can act on a shopper's behalf — and situates that discussion alongside forthcoming industry events and Knights' recently launched book, The Future of Shopping.
The core theme is agentic AI and what it means for retailers. The conversation connects Knights' work as a publisher and writer with the practical considerations that retail leaders face when new AI capabilities emerge.
The podcast also links the book launch to an industry calendar: Knights discusses the idea of public events and forums as places where retailers and technology providers test ideas and debate implementation choices. That framing makes the episode useful for readers who want both a strategic perspective and a route to more detailed, event-level engagement.
The episode sits alongside several recent Retail Technology pieces that point toward topical tensions in retail tech:
- Coverage includes examples of retailers using AI operationally, such as Macy's adding AI forecast overlays to replenishment operations.
- Industry events like the Retail AI Forum and NRF Europe are debating readiness versus ambition: one story framed the issue as "foundations before Ferraris," contrasting appetite for AI with practical readiness, while another described a split between general-purpose AI approaches and domain-specific models.
Why this episode matters for practitioners
The podcast is aimed at readers and listeners who care about what agentic AI could mean for the customer journey, merchandising and operations. It connects a conceptual advancement (agents that can act for shoppers) with on-the-ground signals — vendor guidance, retailer pilots, and industry events — that indicate where decisions are being made now.
- Track operational pilots such as AI overlays on replenishment to see how AI is being embedded into supply-chain and store operations.
Culture episode is a concise entry point to agentic AI as a retail topic, linking a timely book launch to industry debate and concrete news items that show how retailers and suppliers are testing the technology now.