7-Eleven Using Applied AI to Disrupt Convenience - Shahmeer Mirza, 7Eleven

7-Eleven was founded in 1927 as the world’s first convenience store, and for decades has operated as the marketplace leader in the convenience retail business. Through the years, 7-Eleven has continued its obsession with “giving the customers what they want, when and where they want it,” leading the way with a number of innovations in the industry. The first self-serve soda fountains, Slurpees, and to-go coffee were key milestones that kept the business ahead of the competition. The last two decades have seen a rapidly changing technology landscape, and thus in 2016, 7-Eleven began its Digital Transformation to ensure its future as an innovation leader in the retail space. Today we’ll talk about the latest breakthrough in that transformation journey…

Shahmeer Mirza is a Tech Lead and Machine Learning Engineer at 7Next, the R&D Division of 7-Eleven. Over the last several months he has led the team developing 7-Eleven’s Checkout-Free technology. In November of 2019, the team opened their first store at 7-Eleven’s headquarters, a culmination of their work in computer vision, machine learning, algorithms, distributed computing, and hardware engineering. He was previously at PepsiCo, where he developed next-generation automation, computer vision, and machine learning solutions for Industry 4.0 applications. Shahmeer is also passionate about democratizing AI capabilities; while at PepsiCo, he created the first in a series of Data Analytics courses to upskill associates across the Snacks R&D organization. He holds a B.S. in Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering from Georgia Tech, and is currently pursuing his M.S. in Computer Science at Georgia Tech.