Interviewed by Renetta Kõrre, Senior Content Writer at Vaimo
As co-founder at Vaimo, PJ Utsi has been with the company since its inception in the summer of 2008. He serves as Chief Creative Officer, and in that role, he wears many different hats, but what he does most of the time is support and track key engagements, clients, and projects. After a few years in the U.S., PJ is now based in Sweden. A self-described technologist, PJ attended engineering school at Chalmers in Gothenburg, where he received a master’s degree in engineering physics.
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PJ Utsi
Chief Creative Officer & Co-Founder
Vaimo
Let’s jump right in. Why is now the right time for retailers to adopt AI sales assistants?
People ask that a lot, but honestly, it’s almost the wrong question. We shouldn’t think of AI as just another hype cycle like “big data” or “the metaverse.” AI is more like electricity. Now, nothing works without it. AI will be the same: ubiquitous, everywhere, completely integrated. The real question isn’t “why now?” It’s, “why wouldn’t you start using it now that it exists?”
Some say AI assistants are just hype. How do you respond to that?
Honestly, the way we’re currently using AI assistants is just the beginning. Right now, it often looks like this: a customer asks a store rep a question, the rep pulls out an iPad, types the question into an AI, and then reads the answer back. That’s inefficient! Why not just let the customer ask the AI directly? Putting a human in the middle only exposes how flawed the setup is.
But this is also how big shifts always start: with tentative first steps. The important part is that this is the beginning of electrifying retail. We’re moving toward an inevitable future where AI becomes a natural part of every interaction.
Retailers might worry that customers don’t want to “talk to machines.” How do you see the balance between human and AI?
People do value human interaction. That’s why, for example, a retailer like (our client) Elon emphasizes “welcome home” in their stores. They want to feel personal and human. But here’s the thing: human interaction becomes even more valuable when it’s backed by AI. Imagine a sales rep who is always friendly, never forgets a detail, knows every product spec, every margin, every return rate. That’s a supercharged human.
The interface today (like iPads) is still clunky. Tomorrow, it’ll be glasses, earpieces, maybe even neural links. But the core idea remains: combining human warmth with machine precision.
What misconceptions or barriers do brands have about AI assistants?
One big challenge is around information. Customers know all the product specs are out there, down to the millimeter and hertz. Retailers feel awkward when a customer Googles something and knows more than the sales rep. That’s a problem.
AI assistants solve this by making product data instantly available in natural language. And that’s just the start. The real advantage comes when we combine public data with proprietary data; things like return rates, inventory health, internal pricing strategies, and customer service history. That’s what makes the assistant truly valuable and unique to a retailer.
Isn’t this the same thing Amazon is already doing with tools like Rufus?
Amazon’s Rufus is a great example. It knows you frighteningly well based on your entire Amazon footprint. And yes, that’s powerful. But retailers like Elon have something Amazon doesn’t: their brand promise and their physical stores. For Elon, it’s all about the “welcome home” experience. Their differentiation isn’t the products (those you can get anywhere), but the human connection in-store, now supercharged by AI.
That’s why their AI assistant isn’t just for the customer directly; it’s designed to empower their sales reps to deliver that elevated experience.
So what’s unique about Vaimo’s AI assistant project?
First: it’s real. It’s not vaporware or a concept slide. It’s live in stores right now.
Second: it’s not a one-off experiment. We see AI as infrastructure, like electricity, not a side project. This is a program, not a pilot.
Third: it’s deeply integrated. The AI isn’t an isolated chatbot floating on top of the website. It’s woven into the full digital and in-store experience. When you hit the AI button, it already knows where you are in the journey, whether you’re comparing dishwashers or looking at a specific TV model. That context makes all the difference.
And finally: we’re hands-on. We’re in the stores, interviewing staff, launching with their CIO and CMO, making sure it’s strategic and tied to the core of the business.
What do you see as the “endgame” for AI in shopping?
Eventually, we’ll have two worlds.
On one side, you’ll have agent-driven shopping: your AI knows your preferences, your health, even your mood. It will order what makes sense for you, and it will be fast, efficient, and optimized in a way that’s hard to compete with as a human. Some people might find that vision a little boring, maybe even depressing. But from a business perspective, it’s almost inevitable. Automation is efficient, and compared to running physical stores with staff and salaries, it just makes sense.
On the other side, you’ll have human shopping, but it won’t be the norm anymore. Going into a store, touching products, speaking with a real person, enjoying the journey, that will become a premium experience. Just like people value real photography or music made by humans in a world full of AI content, they’ll also value real, tangible shopping experiences. They’ll be rarer, more expensive, and more special. Think of it like food: fast food is everywhere, but the very best restaurants are few and treasured. Shopping will follow the same path.
Want to learn more? We’ve got plenty of resources for you. Read about our AI-powered sales assistant, and check out how we implemented the assistant for electronics home giant, Elon, in our case study.
Be sure to join us for our webinar masterclass, too, where PJ Utsi will do a live demo and answer your questions!
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