Tesco to scan baskets and 'warn' shoppers if they buy too much unhealthy food

The UK's largest grocer, Tesco, could use AI to scold you if your supermarket food shop is unhealthy, it has claimed.

Tesco is set to scan baskets and use artificial intelligence (AI) to warn you if your shop becomes too unhealthy. The UK's largest grocer, Tesco, could use AI to scold you if your supermarket food shop is unhealthy, it has claimed.

Tesco could use Clubcard data to 'nudge' people into making healthier choices. Ken Murphy, chief executive of Tesco, said: “I can see it nudging you, saying: ‘look, I’ve noticed over time that in your shopping basket your sodium salt content is 250% of your daily recommended allowance.

"I would recommend you substitute this, this and this for lower sodium products to improve your heart health’.” He said: “It will completely revolutionise how customers interact with retailers. It can help to bring your shopping bill down, reduce waste and improve the outcome and power of that Clubcard.”

READ MORE Martin Lewis issues update on Ofgem rule change which could cut bills by £100

He said: “For me as a consumer, I don’t mind giving up that data if I get the right kind of experience back.” He said: “Clubcard is literally doing their job for them and making their lives easier”. He said this was “very simple stuff” which could “really improve people’s daily lives”.

Tesco has said it does not “sell or share any individual customer data and we take our responsibilities regarding the use of customer data extremely seriously”. It stressed it was not currently looking at rolling out a “nudge” policy.

Pets at Home chief executive Lyssa McGowan, also speaking at the FT event, said: “We’re already using machine learning to figure out what vouchers we should give them — we know what their dog has for breakfast,” she said. “AI will enable us to do that even better.”

Mr Murphy said that “to get down to that one-to-one level of relationship, where they feel like the Clubcard is literally doing the job for them, we need to be using generative AI extensively”. Tesco already uses limited AI in its Clubcard offering, offering customers things such as personalised “Clubcard challenges” based on their shopping habits.

Murphy described a “massive improvement in our technology landscape” since the company hired Guus Dekkers as chief technology officer in 2018.