April wrap-up: “It’s all gone a bit Black Mirror”
By Jon Taylor on April 28, 2025Black Mirror is trending, and the future feels oddly familiar. This month the new season of Charlie Brooker’s smash hit series landed on our screens, and once again it’s struck a nerve — particularly for those of us working in and around technology.
What used to feel like speculative sci-fi now feels more like a gentle nudge — or, at times, a sharp elbow — reminding us that the future isn’t quite as far off as we thought. To some extent, the technologies it showcases are no longer imaginary or belong to an alternate reality; they’re here, in our pockets, on our wrists, woven into our lives and quietly shaping the way we work, shop and think.
To promote the latest season, Netflix used this to its advantage. Its marketing efforts included creating a fake tech company with a social media presence, some cryptic ads, public PR stunts, some C-list celebrity endorsements (sorry, Rylan) and just enough ambiguity to get the internet whispering.
It was a cool trick — mischievous marketing at its very best — and a clever nod to the show’s central theme: that we’re often too deep in the digital to notice just how strange it’s all become. For a few days, people genuinely weren’t sure what was real. And that alone says quite a lot.
Of course, Black Mirror thrives on worst-case scenarios created by our increasing reliance on technology. That’s the point: it exaggerates the uncomfortable edges of tech to make us stop and think. But not everything powered by data and AI is sliding us into bleak dystopia. Most of it, in fact, is far less scary: better stock management, fewer wasted deliveries, smarter decisions made faster. Less dramatic, yes — but undoubtedly more useful.
The real challenge, especially for those building with AI, is staying thoughtful and aware of this bigger picture while continuing to move fast. Making things that don’t just work, but work well — for people, and not just for profit. That might not make great TV, but it makes for a much better, efficient world. And, in the end, maybe that’s the more interesting story.
✍️ Jon Taylor, Head of Brand & Content
Industry spotlight
Retail
Our key takeaways from Retail Tech Show
Inspirational speakers, the world’s most prestigious retail brands, cutting-edge industry technology — even an appearance from Joe Wicks. The Retail Tech Show really did have it all, and our team had an amazing time at the Excel London demonstrating our ten years of AI experience. Check out some of our key takeaways below.
Retailers shouldn’t be shutting shops — but not for the reasons you might think…
Our Retail Director, Tom Summerfield, has explored the topic of bricks and mortar stores in his latest piece for Customer Think. He argues that stores aren’t just about profit — they are powerful tools for building brand visibility, creating customer experiences and driving long-term loyalty. Shutting them may save money short-term, but risks weakening the brand in the long run.
CPG & manufacturing
Learn how Hain Celestial tackles supply chain risk with Inventory AI
For James Cranfield, VP International Supply Chain at Hain Celestial, one of the biggest challenges has been understanding how inventory decisions impact service levels and availability. In this video, James explains how implementing Peak’s Inventory AI solution is helping the business gain real-time insights into stock levels, reduce inefficiencies and shift focus from manual data management to strategic decision making.
Powering perfect pricing at EPP Berlin
The team were in Berlin this month, with Peak a proud partner of the EPP Manufacturing Pricing Forum 2025. We hosted a workshop on AI-driven pricing, showcasing some of the game-changing results we’ve achieved for our manufacturing customers, including Heidelberg Materials. You can learn more about that, and others, by hitting the button below.
Webinar
Revolutionizing retail pricing with agentic AI
The next installment of our agentic AI webinar series is coming soon, and this time we’re focusing on some exciting agentic use cases for retail pricing. Join our industry and AI experts Tom Summerfield, Lucy McCann and Mark Douthwaite on Thursday 8 May to get involved — we’re looking forward to seeing you online!
On our radar
What’s caught our eye this month?
- Daniel Dines, UiPath CEO, explaining the Peak acquisition on the Verge’s Decoder podcast
- Learning how to use Claude to create a virtual assistant (in under 10 minutes)
- Getting a bit too into The Masters… ⛳️
- Northern Tech Awards finalists once again. Bosh. 🏆
- Two agents on a call realizing they’re both AI and switching to a superior audio signal 🤯
- Woof woof, woof? Woof. Woof woof!
- Using tech to meet demand in the most cost-efficient way, by Holly Clarke, Product Manager
- Some words of wisdom from our CTO and co-founder, Atul Sharma, on building a business
Featured content
NEW! Practical guides on real AI use cases for retail
We’ve been busy pulling together a handful of new resources for retailers. These short and snappy guides are designed to give you actionable tips on using AI to optimize inventory management and power perfect pricing — featuring industry expertise, practical examples and real-life success stories.
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