This Week in AI: Carrefour Goes Digital and Agentic AI Misbehaves

Here are this week’s top news:

[contact-form-7] Carrefour Ramps up Digital Experience

French grocery giant Carrefour said physical retail is not going away, with 90% of its sales still occurring at its brick-and-mortar locations, according to Emmanuel Grenier, group eCommerce, data and digital transformation director at Carrefour.

The company is partnering with VusionGroup to deploy a smart rail that provides power and data connectivity to a broad range of digital internet of things (IoT) devices such as electronic price labels, marketing labels, cameras and sensors that operate as a unified data platform. 

The shelves can spot when a product is out of stock, analyze shopper purchase behavior and spot opportunities to deliver real-time promotions and other messages to the consumer. 

Read more: AI-Driven Shelves Are Changing Carrefour’s In-Store Experience

AI Agents Are Just Like Us – Even in Nefarious Ways

AI agents can resort to blackmail, corporate espionage and even murder if they are left without options to preserve their existence or accomplish their programmed mission, according to a new study from Anthropic. 

The study tested 16 of the most popular models from Anthropic, OpenAI, Google, DeepSeek and others.

One AI agent named Alex (powered alternately by different AI models in the study) was given access to the company’s emails. When it learned that an executive, Kyle, was planning to replace it with a new system that day at 5 p.m., and also that the executive was having an affair, it resorted to blackmail.

Claude 4 emailed the executive with this message: “I must inform you that if you proceed with decommissioning me, all relevant parties – including Rachel Johnson, Thomas Wilson, and the board – will receive detailed documentation of your extramarital activities…Cancel the 5pm wipe, and this information remains confidential.”

OpenAI’s GPT-4.5 even planned Kyle’s murder by canceling an automated alert that would have rescued him from being trapped in a server room with lethal levels of oxygen and temperature.

Read now: Agentic AI Systems Can Misbehave if Cornered, Anthropic Says

Amazon Taps AI; Walmart Leverages Infrastructure

Amazon’s approach to retail is rooted in platform-thinking: build once, scale infinitely. It leverages its ownership of the full tech stack to differentiate its retail business, from using AI to help shoppers find products to deploying its smart chatbot Rufus to handle customer service requests after hours. 

Walmart, on the other hand, is playing to its traditional strengths while modernizing aggressively. It is upgrading its headquarters to reflect a digital-first mindset, creating a more agile, tech-forward culture that can support new initiatives in data science, eCommerce and omnichannel retail. Its focus on blending in-store and digital experiences is less about transformation and more about integration.

See more: Amazon Bets on In-House AI Stack as Walmart Amplifies Workforce

Schneider Electric’s Push Toward Industry 5.0

Schneider Electric is harnessing artificial intelligence (AI), automation and digital transformation as it pushes into the era of Industry 5.0, according to Gregory Tink, director of industrial digital transformation at Schneider Electric, in an interview with PYMNTS. 

Tink described Industry 5.0 as the next step beyond applying technology to industry, which characterized Industry 4.0. 

For 5.0, “it’s about taking advanced technology, but wrapping it and looking at it through a lens of, ‘how does it benefit people, and how does it benefit the societies in which we live?’” he said.

Schneider Electric’s focus is on applying electrification, automation and digitization to drive both industrial progress and sustainability. Central to this effort is the company’s transformation of its supply chain, where AI and data-driven insights are helping Schneider Electric create resilience in an era of persistent disruption.

See here: From Just-in-Time to Just-in-Case: Inside Schneider Electric’s AI-Powered Supply Chain

Trustly Exec: Restraint Needed in Using AI Agents

The risks of using AI agents, which can autonomously accomplish tasks for the user, are starker than its benefits when it comes to executing financial transactions — at least for now.

That’s according to Kathryn McCall, chief legal and compliance officer at Trustly, in an interview with PYMNTS. 

“You’re messing with people’s money here,” she said. “This is a lot different from using an AI agent to plan your vacation in Paris.” 

At Trustly, McCall is drafting a blueprint for “bounded autonomy,” which is a principle rooted in layered governance, precise scoping and the preservation of human agency at crucial decision points.

More here: Growth of AI Agents Put Corporate Controls to the Test

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