Luxury Intelligence

Luxury’s real edge is not in owning AI, but in mastering its orchestration. Amazon is now selling its AI shopping assistant to rivals, even as it races to out-AI them, while Anthropic’s near trillion-dollar valuation signals a new pecking order where the tools matter more than who built them. Richemont’s strong jewellery sales and Watches of Switzerland’s US surge show that brands who control the narrative and experience, not just the tech stack, are the ones winning share.

Everyone wants to be the AI supplier, but the scramble exposes how even giants like Amazon depend on outside innovation, Asana buying StackAI, Salesforce relying on Anthropic, and Stord raising $250 million to keep up. The counterargument is that building in-house AI gives lasting advantage, but the evidence says otherwise: the fastest movers are those who integrate, not invent, and who keep their brand front and center while the tech arms race plays out behind the curtain.

For luxury and jewellery, the lesson is clear: invest in partnerships that let you deploy best-in-class AI without losing control of your customer experience. In the next quarter, focus less on proprietary tech and more on curating the right mix of external tools to amplify what makes your brand irreplaceable.