AiFi and Microsoft target retail sector as they team to bring ChatGPT level capabilities to physical world

AiFi, a spatial intelligence platform enabling businesses to deploy autonomous solutions, has announced a collaboration with Microsoft that promises the delivery of real-world artificial intelligence.

Built on Microsoft Azure, this integration taps AiFi’s proprietary spatial intelligence engine, trained on over 90 petabytes of real-world data collected annually. Unlike conventional vision systems, AiFi creates a real-time, context aware digital twin that doesn’t just see what’s happening, it understands where it’s happening, who’s involved, when, and why it matters.

“Understanding the physical world with precision is the next frontier of AI,” says Steve Carlin, CEO at AiFi.

“That’s what this collaboration is about. By combining AiFi’s spatial intelligence with Microsoft’s cloud scale and enterprise reach, we’re enabling AI to help businesses understand everything that is happening in the spaces that matter to them. Working with Microsoft gives a startup like ours an opportunity to take advantage of cost structures associated with scale, and gives Microsoft the ability to access new capabilities for their agentic layer strategies for their cloud services and analytics.”

In a retail setting, for example, AiFi’s system can detect when a customer sees an object, picks it up, studies it, and puts it back, identifying not just the object, but the human interaction and the spatial context in real-time. This allows shoppers to anonymously purchase items in-store without having to wait in line, stop to scan or pay. It doesn’t use facial recognition or capture biometric identifiers to ensure the privacy of individuals.

"Spatial intelligence is becoming a foundational layer of enterprise AI, especially as organisations look to bridge physical and digital experiences," says Jason Graefe, CVP of ISV & Digital Natives at Microsoft. "AiFi’s dataset and proven performance make them an ideal partner for bringing real-time intelligence into complex, real-world settings."

As a longtime participant in the Microsoft for Startups Pegasus programme and a global ISV partner, AiFi has benefited from technical collaboration with Microsoft’s engineering and industry teams.

While retail remains a key early use case, helping retailers reallocate labour, and unlock shopper insights, the pair say that the broader opportunity lies in any environment where understanding human behaviour and physical interaction in real-time can drive business outcomes.

2025 RTIH INNOVATION AWARDS

Autonomous retail will be a key focus area at the 2025 RTIH Innovation Awards.

The awards, which are now open for entries, celebrate global tech innovation in a fast moving omnichannel world.

Our 2024 hall of fame entrants were revealed during an event which took place at RIBA’s 66 Portland Place HQ in Central London on 21st November, and consisted of a drinks reception, three course meal, and awards ceremony presided over by comedian Lucy Porter.

In his welcome speech, Scott Thompson, Founder and Editor, RTIH, said: “The event is now into its sixth year and what a journey it has been. The awards started life as an online only affair during the Covid outbreak, before launching as a small scale in real life event and growing year on year to the point where we’re now selling out this fine, historic venue.”

He added: “Congratulations to all of our finalists. Many submissions did not make it through to the final stage, and getting to this point is no mean feat. Checkout-free stores, automated supply chains, immersive experiences, on-demand delivery, next generation loyalty offerings, inclusive retail, green technology. We’ve got all the cool stuff covered this evening.”

“But just importantly we’ve got lots of great examples of companies taking innovative tech and making it usable in everyday operations - resulting in more efficiency and profitability in all areas.”

Congratulations to our 2024 winners, and a big thank you to our sponsors, judging panel, the legend that is Lucy Porter, and all those who attended November's gathering. 

For further information on the 2025 RTIH Innovation Awards, please fill in the below form and we will get back to you asap.