Dara Meath, senior vice president and chief technology officer at Build-A-Bear Workshop, spoke with Ron Offir, managing director, retail and consumer products at Deloitte Consulting, at Total Retail Tech last month about the ways her company uses generative artificial intelligence to build a brand and drive revenue. Below are three Gen AI tools she uses at Build-A-Bear, as well as three tips she has for implementing those tools.

3 AI Tools Build-A-Bear Workshop Uses

  1. Microsoft Copilot: Meath called Microsoft Copilot, a generative AI chatbot, an “important part of our venture.” The tool uses large language models (LLMs) to improve work-related productivity. Copilot replaced Microsoft’s Cortana, the voice-activated assistant built into Windows 10, and differs from Cortana in that it can understand and respond to natural language queries, provide detailed explanations, analyze data, generate content, and assist with complex tasks across Microsoft apps.
  2. Bright Eye: This is a mobile app that offers multiple tools for generating, analyzing, and playing with AI-generated content.
  3. MuleSoft from Salesforce: An all-in-one platform that enables teams to deliver agentic AI experiences across the enterprise with seamless connectivity, automation and control. “The integration layers were incredible,” Meath said, adding she’s using this in Build-A-Bear’s supply chain, customer integrations, and more. “It’s really looking at our end-to-end points and then layering in machine learning so that we’re leveraging further and further.”

3 Things to Do Before Implementing AI

  1. Do a security review. “A security review is critical,” Meath said, adding that it’s important to make sure whatever technology you’re trying to add to your infrastructure is secure and compatible with all of your other technology.
  2. Set up committees and governance. “Set in the right structure so that if you’re putting in the AI, it’s going to last and it’s going to work for you. Instead of making it sit in the background, let it become a part of the conversation,” Meath said. At Build-A-Bear Workshop, she set up committees outside of IT, bringing in different leaders to evaluate their AI needs.
  3. Constantly evaluate your tools. Meath said the company is always re-examining whether a certain AI tool is working well. “It’s like any other technology out there — you start off in your path and you never let it just sit; you keep it going and going,” said Meath.

Meath’s full keynote will be available to watch on womeninretail.com soon.