Head of AI Futures John Mildinhall exits Marks & Spencer after five year run at UK omnichannel retailer

John Mildinhall has announced his departure from Marks and Spencer, where he served as Head of AI Futures.

In this role, he was responsible for uncovering new opportunities to deploy data science technologies into the business. This involved working both on customer and colleague facing use cases, combining generative LLMs and computer vision models, and also developing technologies to orchestrate these technologies better, make them safer, and interact with a complex and huge internal and external data landscape.

In a LinkedIn post, Mildinhall said: “Big announcement - after five years, my time at M&S is at an end. Thanks to all the great people I've worked with - you know who you are. On to new and exciting things! But, it means I can get something gigantic, massive, consequential, pertinent and germane off my chest finally. I mean it's incredibly important that I get this out there. HUUUUGE.”

He added: “You can't describe raspberries as jammy! Jam is in the set of products that can be created by raspberries - you can't describe the essence of something in terms of something it is used to create. To illustrate, would you describe: Milk as "cheesy"?; Potatoes as "crispy"?; Apples as "crumbly"?; Grapes as "winey"?”

“No, of course not because this is circular. And if it is referring to properties of jam that are not unique to raspberry jam (i.e. it has the properties of all jam) then what are we saying here? That they're sticky? They're a viscous liquid? They have been boiled with a huge amount of added sugar and pectin? No. There, I've finally said my truth and can move on.”

Bravo, John, bravo!

2026 RTIH Innovation Awards

AI will be a key focus area at the 2026 RTIH Innovation Awards.

The awards are now open for entries and celebrate global retail technology innovation in a fast moving omnichannel world.

Our winners will be revealed at the 2026 RTIH Innovation Awards Ceremony, taking place at The HAC in Central London on Wednesday, 4th November.

Check out our 2025 winners here.

Our 2025 hall of fame entrants were revealed during a sold out event which took place at The HAC on 16th October and consisted of a drinks reception, three course meal, and awards ceremony presided over by award winning comedian, actress and writer Tiff Stevenson.

In his welcome speech, Scott Thompson, Founder and Editor, RTIH, said: “This is the awards’ fifth year as a physical event. We started off with just 30 people at the South Place Hotel not far from here, then moved to London Bridge Hotel, then The Barbican, and last year RIBA’s HQ in the West End.”

“But I’m conscious of the fact that, to quote the legend that is Taylor Swift, You’re only as hot as your last hit, baby. So, this year we’ve moved to our biggest venue yet, and also pulled in our largest number of entries to date and broken attendance records.”

He added: “This year’s submissions have without doubt been our best yet. To quote one of the judges: The examples of innovative developments across both traditional and digital retail spaces were truly remarkable.”

Congratulations to our winners, and a big thank you to our sponsors, judging panel, the legend that is Tiff Stevenson, and all those who attended our 2025 gathering.