Target announced it has appointed its first ever chief artificial intelligence officer on Tuesday in the retailer's latest bet to capitalize on the AI boom.

The company named Chandhu Nair as its chief AI officer and senior vice president and also announced Purvi Shah as the company's senior vice president of user experience.

"The most meaningful AI stories won't be about what happens in a lab," Nair said in a statement. "They'll be about what happens on the front line – how we make shopping easier for a guest, give a team member a better tool, make a business decision with more confidence or bring a new idea to market faster."

Nair previously worked at home improvement retailer Lowe's as the company's senior vice president of stores, data, AI and innovation. He has also held roles at Staples and Gap .

In his statement, Nair said he's focused on a "more coordinated approach" to AI for Target, including improving how the retailer manages inventory or enabling faster decisions.

As it looks to win back shoppers and investors, the company has been investing in generative AI, including a tool called Target Trend Brain, which helps the retailer get ahead of trends and identify the styles, colors and materials that customers will be searching for. And last holiday season, Target launched a new conversational AI program to help customers find the right gift for the people on their shopping lists.

The Tuesday announcement comes as many major retailers have been racing to keep up with the AI boom and integrate it into their business strategies.

Target's rival Walmart has been rolling out AI tools and agents across its stores and supply chains to enhance the customer experience and make its internal employee processes more efficient. Gap announced a partnership with Google 's Gemini earlier this year, and Best Buy has collaborations in place with OpenAI and Google.

Retail company executives have been sizing up the AI transition and how it will evolve in the coming years. Former Walmart CEO Douglas McMillon told CNBC's "Squawk Box" in December that he decided to hand over the reins of the global retailer to someone "faster" who could tap into the ways AI could accelerate the business. John Furner took over the post from McMillon in February.

"About a year ago, I really started feeling like this next run, you could see what agentic commerce was going to look like, the vision for AI shopping, and I started thinking about everything that needs to happen over the next few years, and it really caused me to think that now was the right time [to step down]," McMillon said at the time.