Good morning.
I’m in Las Vegas this morning at CES, along with 130,000 other people and enough gadgets to fill 2.5 million square feet of convention space. There are transparent television screens, a self-driving stroller, and AI-assisted ovens, toothbrushes, pillows—AI-assisted everything.
My job last night was to interview Best Buy CEO Corie Barry at the Leaders in Technology dinner. I started by reminding her that a decade ago, the smart money assumed Best Buy was headed for extinction. It would end up in a graveyard with Toys 'R' Us, Bed Bath & Beyond, and countless other big box stores. After all, who needs a gadget store in a world where you can buy it all on Amazon? Her response:
“What people got wrong was two things. First, this is an amazing industry. It’s incredibly vibrant. It changes all the time. I know it’s often talked about as discretionary spending, but I’m sorry, how many of you can go one hour of your day without some consumer electronics device? And we are the only scale U.S. player left who only deals in consumer electronics. And we are the only one who is really agnostic to the customer. We don’t care about the brand. I love all my children.
And then as a company, we decided, okay, then let’s double down on who we are. We’re the place you go. You want to know what my favorite statement is to hear in a store? ‘I had no idea I can do that.’ That’s what we do. We humanize technology. We make it not just about the SKU and the speeds and feeds…It’s about what you want to do.”
Barry returned to the human theme again and again…indeed, she used the word “human” more than she used the word “technology.” For instance, I asked her how AI would change Best Buy’s business. Here’s the response:
“Here’s the ironic thing about AI. AI will actually make all of our experiences with technology feel more human…I don’t see a world where there’s less technology in our homes, in the most intimate parts of our lives. And so the role that we play is to really humanize it, to bring it to life, to help the world understand how it can make their lives better.”
I asked her to look 10 years down the road and forecast how our lives will change as a result:
“I think all of us are going to rely more and more on tech, and yet it’s going to feel more and more transparent, meaning you’re not going to realize you’re even using it. It’s just going to be humanly part of what we do every single day. And I think our responsibility collectively is to make that happen in a way that is fair, equitable, safe and responsible.”
I’m down with that, even if I don’t really need an AI-assisted toothbrush. More news below.
Alan Murray
@alansmurray
alan.murray@fortune.com
