Target appoints Chandhu Nair as its first chief AI officer, expanding senior AI leadership

Target is creating a new senior role focused on artificial intelligence, appointing Chandhu Nair as its first chief AI officer. The company said Nair will start on Aug. 24, a move that indicates how retailers are trying to organize AI talent and decision-making as they automate parts of marketing, merchandising, and operations.

Nair comes to Target from Lowe’s, according to the announcement reported by Yahoo Finance. He is described as an executive with experience in retail technology and operations, a background that can matter for companies using AI for demand forecasting, personalization, and supply-chain planning. Target did not provide additional detail on specific AI initiatives in the reported update.

In the same leadership planning, Target also elevated a user experience leader, the report said. User experience, often shortened to UX, refers to how customers interact with a company’s shopping journey, including website and app design, search and navigation, and in-store and digital services. For retailers, AI and UX increasingly overlap, because AI can shape recommendations, search results, and customer support responses, while UX determines whether those outputs translate into smoother shopping behavior.

The timing is notable. Target’s appointment arrives as major consumer retailers continue to experiment with AI tools across customer-facing and back-office workflows, from product discovery to fraud detection and workforce management. But Target’s disclosure, as reflected in the reported item, stayed focused on the leadership appointments rather than laying out performance targets, timelines, or budget commitments.

Target typically communicates organizational changes through internal leadership updates and human-resources related statements, but the public description in the reported post did not spell out how the new chief AI officer role will be structured inside the company. It also did not specify whether the role will sit within Target’s technology organization, reporting line commitments, or how it will coordinate with merchandising, stores, or marketing leaders.

What remains unclear is how much operational authority the chief AI officer will have over day-to-day model development, vendor partnerships, and governance. Public companies often separate AI experimentation from production deployment, and they also maintain controls around data privacy and customer-impacting decisions. In the reported announcement, Target did not discuss those governance mechanics or any near-term milestones tied to Nair’s arrival.