Supermarket giant Tesco has launched a “large scale” trial of a new AI assistant, designed to “lighten the load for customers” when it comes to meal planning.

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The new AI tool, which has been built into the Tesco app, is being made available to some 280,000 Tesco staff from today, in a Beta trial to help “shape the experience” of the app in the future.

The ultimate aim of the app is to “help customers with meal planning, providing a natural, two-way dialogue to offer inspiration in the form of personalised recipe ideas that will also account for different dietary preferences”.

Tesco said the AI assistant will also assist customers with building baskets around recipes and help those looking to use leftover ingredients to save “money and time, reduce food waste, and take some of the stress out of mealtime planning”.

The grocery giant said the AI assistant Beta trial was “a unique opportunity to draw on the insights and experiences of the largest private sector workforce in the country”.

Chief executive Ken Murphy said: “We want to give customers the best possible experience every time they shop with Tesco, and this assistant gives us one more way to help them and make their lives a little easier.

“In the long term, this assistant has the potential to transform the way people shop with us – harnessing the power of AI to personalise the shopping experience for our customers in ways that ultimately save them time and money.

“Nobody is better placed than our colleagues to help us get this experience right; they understand the customers and communities they serve, and we cannot wait to see how they help shape and improve the assistant in the months ahead.”

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