Think self-scanning is the summit of supermarket gizmos? Think again. -- "From self-scan checkouts at grocery stores to electronic information kiosks at retail chains, businesses are making technology an ever more central part of the overall shopping experience. IBM, which is investing heavily in shopping computerization, reports that shoppers from different countries across the board are increasingly open to using new in-store technologies. The company says that super-shoppers have become empowered by their ability to access data online, and this ability translates into an extremely knowledgeable consumer base, with specific customer-service needs."
Enterprise AI budgets are flowing in two directions at once, and only one of them builds an asset the buyer actually controls. Gartner's latest forecast puts worldwide AI spending at $2.7 trillion in 2026, but the composition of that figure matters far more than the total. Executives who read only the headline will miss the tension between what they are buying and what they actually own. The Number Behind the Number Gartner projects 2026 AI spending is a 49.5 percent increase over 2025, with $3.6 trillion forecast for 2027. AI infrastructure accounts for $1.5 trillion of this year's total, more than half. Gartner's John-David Lovelock calls the data center buildout the largest infrastructure project humanity has undertaken, and describes demand as inelastic even as memory prices climb. Compute Concentration is a Sovereignty Issue Gartner expects hyperscalers and service providers buying AI-optimized servers to remain the largest single area of spending. For an enterprise, t...