Overview
- Tesco opened an internal trial Thursday, giving about 280,000 employees early access to the new assistant and setting up feedback before a wider launch later in 2026.
- The tool holds a two‑way chat to suggest recipes based on diet, price, or cuisine and can build a shopping basket from ingredients users say they already have.
- By tapping Clubcard purchase history, the assistant can tailor ideas to what a shopper likely has at home and adjust recommendations to fit their habits.
- Tesco says its in‑house teams built the feature with UK consultancy Tomoro AI, working in alliance with OpenAI, after months of development under strict secrecy since autumn 2025.
- The assistant is planned as a feature inside the Tesco app, part of a broader AI push that includes a doubled tech team over five years and a three‑year partnership with European start‑up Mistral.