Appointment comes as retailer seeks to accelerate AI adoption across the company
Target has named Chandhu Nair as the company's first-ever chief AI officer, as it seeks to strengthen the adoption of AI tools across the organisation.
The retailer also announced the appointment of Purvi Shah to the role of senior vice president of UX, with both leaders to start in their new positions from 24 August.
Nair is expected to bring "greater focus and coordination to AI across the enterprise," while Shah will reinforce the "human-centred design" system of the technology, according to Target.
"Together, these capabilities will help Target move from insight to action faster, while keeping people at the center of what we build," the retailer said in its announcement.
The appointment of both leaders comes as Target outlined a strategic plan for 2026, which includes the acceleration of technology and AI adoption to "deepen personalisation and engagement" across the firm.
"What excites me most is the opportunity to make AI real for the people who experience Target every day. The most meaningful AI stories won't be about what happens in a lab," Nair said.
"They'll be about what happens on the front line — how we make shopping easier for a guest, give a team member a better tool, make a business decision with more confidence or bring a new idea to market faster."
Target's approach to AI
Nair described Target's approach to AI as an amplifier to the retailer's existing strengths.
"The opportunity is to use AI to build on those strengths and support Target's priorities, not create a separate AI strategy," he said.
"We should begin with the outcomes we want and focus the technology where it can make the biggest difference."
Chandhu Nair pointed out that AI will expand what the technology can understand and do, with UX to turn those capabilities into something useful.
"Intelligence may make a system more capable, but human-centered design helps make that capability understandable, useful and trustworthy," Shah added.
"It helps us point the technology toward the opportunities that matter most and shape how a system should behave, not just how it should look."
The upcoming senior vice president of UX described this as a "radical collaboration."
"We need product, technology, data, and business teams sitting side by side with UX and the people we serve, learning and co-creating together from the beginning," she said.
Target's appointment of a chief AI officer comes as major retailers across the world implement the technology in their workplaces.
Walmart recently rolled out AI tools and agents to enhance employee experience, with the technology helping in payroll and paid time off, CNBC reported.
