Dive Brief:
- Chewy has launched a customer-facing AI assistant, Cai, along with AI tools for its live agents to enhance the pet retailer’s customer service capabilities, CEO Sumit Singh said on a Q2 2026 earnings call Wednesday.
- Still in beta, Cai is available to select customers through Chewy’s mobile apps, according to Singh. Among those users, shy of one-third of common issue areas like orders, returns and account membership are resolved through its chat capabilities.
- The AI assistant has been active for less than a month and is currently operating on a small scale — less than 15% of Chewy’s traffic has been exposed to Cai, according to Singh. However, Chewy plans to expand the program rapidly.
Dive Insight:
Chewy sees potential for AI to improve the customer experience, and the technology is already cutting costs across its business.
The retailer projects AI-related initiatives to produce savings in the low tens of millions of dollars in fiscal 2026, scaling up to about $50 million in annual savings in 2027, according to Singh. As Chewy’s AI capabilities scale, they are expected to improve productivity, lower cost to serve, and create flexibility in how it reinvests cost savings.
One example of cost savings is faster onboarding for customer service agents, according to Singh. The company is using AI to help agents navigate the various software tools agents browse to find answers, and it accelerates the training process for new hires.
“The internal tools that we're launching are rapidly allowing us to essentially level those net new agents and their performance much closer to our experienced agents, and therefore embed that productivity and lower the cost to serve structurally,” Singh said on the call.
Chewy has also introduced a voice-based AI tool for its Chewy Vet Care locations, called Callie, Singh said. Callie is “supporting appointment confirmations, scheduling and routine follow-ups while reflecting Chewy's brand voice and customers-first tone.”
These AI-driven efficiencies can help offset cost pressures such as "wage inflation," Singh said.
Chewy claims its AI-powered customer service tools maintain the same level of support users can expect from its live agents.
“You can expect that the bar that this product has to meet is exceptionally high, and so that's the first design principle,” Singh said. “That, from a service bar standpoint, in terms of being true to brand and tone, it has to be spot on.”
Live agents will remain part of customer support, Singh said. Customers using Cai who need or prefer human support “are seamlessly connected to a care team member within seconds.”
Chewy shared details of its AI push amid a quarter of sales growth, though both came in on the low end of guidance. Sales rose 7.3% year over year in the second quarter of 2026 to $3.3 billion, according to an earnings release.
