From a global AI leader’ s perspective, what has been the tipping point for moving AI out of the lab and into the fabric of everyday business?
Stuart Hubbard: Zebra has had AI in production for many years using machine vision and computer vision. Since the launch of ChatGPT, we’ ve seen an acceleration in advances across model research and engineering, the shift from large to small language models and the rise of on-device multimodal AI.
These developments are coupled with a maturing of the market from consumer app to enterprise-ready solution and the scalability to meet different enterprise requirements. Organisations also needed time to understand the technology, build the business case, evaluate the ROI and put appropriate governance in place. Compared to previous technology supercycles, I think AI adoption has been rapid, and we’ re still at the very beginning of the journey.
Mark Thomson: Technology often moves faster than the organisations looking to leverage its capabilities. Vision, strategy and executive sponsorship, business process transformation and company culture are vital for AI success, and need time to get right. As does data cleansing, which is an essential element of any AI deployment.
I would say AI adoption in retail has moved at pace in some areas such as shopper apps, though it is more gradual
for employee empowerment so far. Industries like retail are beginning to add AI to current frontline workflows to gain efficiency and productivity advantages. With time, AI will lead to new ways of working and will help to transform those who adopt it, leading to great leaps in efficiency and engagement.
Jason Harvey: Organisations re-evaluated their other technologies and now see new value with AI. Data from things like
156 July 2026