UK food retailer Tesco has signed a three-year agreement with French start-up Mistral AI, as part of a broader strategy to bolster its use of artificial intelligence.

Tesco said that the partnership will give it full access to the AI company’s commercial models, including any future development, as well as its AI engineers.

The agreement includes a commitment for the two companies to work together through a joint “AI lab”, in which Mistral AI and Tesco technology experts will co-create new generative AI solutions for different parts of the Tesco business.

Focus on customer experience

Tesco said that it has doubled the size of its technology team over the past five years in recognition of the “huge potential” for new technology to improve customer experience and stated that its approach to AI will be focused on aiming to improve the experience for customers, colleagues and suppliers, while also enhancing its wider operations.

The agreement between Tesco and Mistral will look at a range of areas, including content development and document drafting; speeding up data analysis to provide richer insights for colleagues; and developing new ways for colleagues to easily access information which they can use to help customers.

Tesco data, analytics & AI director Ruben Lara Hernandez commented: “By bringing together our retail expertise and Mistral AI’s cutting-edge technology, we hope this partnership could ultimately save colleagues time, improve how we do things and help us to better serve our customers.

“Innovation has always been part of Tesco’s DNA, and this agreement builds on our extensive track record in developing new technology and AI solutions, in ways that ultimately benefit our customers, colleagues and suppliers.

Large language model

The retailer is already using AI, developed both in-house and with partners, across its operations, with applications that include finding the most efficient routing for online orders to create more delivery slots for customers and demand forecasting to ensure product availability.

Tesco stated that Mistral AI, which launched in 2023, is the only frontier AI company in Europe that is building large language models, and Tesco is the first major UK retailer to partner with it, as part of its wider AI and technology strategy.

Marjorie Janiewicz, chief revenue officer and US GM at Mistral AI, commented: “We are proud to partner with Tesco, a leader in retail innovation. Our Applied AI team will collaborate with Tesco’s experts to build customisable, controllable and frontier AI products to improve internal workflows and Tesco’s customers’ experience.”