Ethical Implications of Artificial Intelligence in Retail, Customer Data Management

Abstract

This study is based on the ethical guidelines of artificial intelligence AI in the retail sector by focusing on the customer perception. Artificial intelligence has improved the retail sector operation and management. As many retails like Alibaba, Ali express, Daraz, Foodpanda and Temu in Pakistan are using artificial intelligence so the customer data privacy is a major concern. This study specifies the Ethical guidelines for involvement of AI in these retail sector. AI Algorithm base decision making is introduced in the retail sector. customer experience and data safety are also a concerned in usage of artificial intelligence in the retail sector. This study also explores the safety concern for the customer data handling and transparency. This study is conducted using a quantitative survey questionnaire, that covers the Customer Experience, Customer Data, Algorithm Bias, Transparency and Accountability and Ethical Guidelines. These constructs help to identify the customer perception towards the involvement of AI in retail sector. As AI have improve the retail sector operations but still there is a concern regarding the customer data privacy and safety. Transparency and Accountability and Ethical Guidelines of AI usage in retail is important for the customer. Customers should aware of that their data is being recorded and used for the future planning and to improve their experience. To address these concerns this study recommends the transparency of AI practices and ethical guidelines implementations, privacy design models for customer data and improve Algorithm bias decision making to improve customer satisfaction. It also recommend the customer should have knowledge and awareness as their data is being used and the employees need to be trained to facilitate the customers regarding the usage of AI in retails. This Study is also having some limitation regarding the data collection as it covers the cross sectional design and reliance on self reported data it also limited by a non diverse sample but still cover the strong insights regarding the Ethical guidelines of AI usage in retail. it can discuss the supply chain optimization and may high light the legal and sociotechnical aspects. Guidelines for the future research is they may conduct the longitudinal research design and may change the target audience and also can change the specific concern instead of Ethical concerns they can discuss about the customer time savings, retailer profit maximization and supply chain management or e commerce.