EXCLUSIVE: Q&A with Neelima Sharma, senior VP, Lowe’s
Lowe’s Companies Inc. continues expanding the functionality of its artificial intelligence assistant for shoppers.
Chain Store Age recently spoke with Neelima Sharma, senior VP of omnichannel & e-commerce technology at Lowe’s, about the history and ongoing development of Mylow, a chatbot developed in partnership with Open AI, developer of the ChatGPT generative AI model and designed to deliver the same expertise as a human Lowe’s associate.
[READ MORE: Lowe’s launches AI customer assistant]
Since its release in March 2025, Lowe’s has seen extensive usage of Mylow and also added long-term memory capability.
Why did Lowe's decide to launch Mylow?
At Lowe’s, our approach to AI starts with people and solving meaningful problems. We start with a simple question: How can we make things easier for our customers and our associates? Our mission is to help people solve problems and fulfill dreams for their homes, and technology can make that easier.
Home improvement can be complex, and customers often need expertise and guidance to move their projects forward. This thinking guided the launch of Mylow, the first AI-powered assistant designed to make Lowe’s home improvement expertise more accessible and help customers move from questions to solutions with greater confidence.
How does Mylow work?
Mylow is designed to let customers ask home improvement questions in a natural, conversational way and get guidance that's relevant to what they're trying to accomplish. A customer might ask, ‘Can you help me diagnose my leaky faucet?’ and Mylow can use relevant context, such as their location and photos they choose to share, to better understand the problem and provide helpful guidance and product recommendations.
The goal is to make it easier for customers to get from a question to a solution, especially when they may not know exactly what product they need or even where to start.
Why and when did Lowe's add long-term memory?
Since launch, Mylow and Mylow Companion (Lowe’s associate-facing AI tool released in May 2025) have supported more than 25 million questions from customers and associates. Home improvement is personal, and every home has its own history.
We added a new feature called Memory so Mylow can build on that context over time instead of treating every interaction like a blank slate. For customers with a MyLowe’s Rewards loyalty account, Mylow can remember relevant information from previous interactions and purchases, helping make future guidance more personalized and useful.
Over time, Mylow can move from helping with a question in the moment to better understanding a customer’s home and helping them care for it over time.
What results has Lowe's achieved since adding Memory?
We are encouraged by the early response to Memory. We’re seeing strong customer engagement, with customers creating and using memories to make their interactions with Mylow more relevant over time. We have also seen improvements in helpfulness and the overall quality of the experience, reinforcing our belief that greater context can make AI more useful for customers.
Can you discuss any future plans for Mylow or AI-assisted shopping?
We’re continuing to evolve Mylow to make home improvement easier throughout the customer journey. That includes expanding Mylow across product detail pages, search, our app and category journeys, while also working on other customer-focused experiences.
Ultimately, we want to use AI to make things easier for our customers while becoming part of a better home improvement experience.
Editor’s Note: Neelima Sharma was a Chain Store Age Retail’s Top Women Awards recipient in the technology category in 2024.
