Listen on These

Responsible, Revolutionary Tech – The AI Discussion With Nelson Valderrama of Intuilize

Episode: 121

Ready for the AI revolution? That question seems quaint in the wake of apocalyptic scenarios flooding our social feeds. But, like it or not, the pin had already been pulled from this grenade long before ChatGPT and BARD AI made headlines. So now what? Nelson Valderrama says there’s no need to run for cover. Instead, the founder of Intuilize, has a message for distributors: ditch the dread and embrace artificial intelligence before your competitors do. Jason invited Nelson back to the podcast to expand on their original AI discussion, sort fact from fiction, and provide practical, proactive advice for application in the (very) near future.

If you think you have negligible involvement with AI, think again. We have been living under AI for quite a bit of time. Nelson offers one of the most familiar and innocuous tools to prove his point. Google Maps. It’s only in the last few months, however, that our existential dread regarding us-versus-them has caught up to society’s already widespread use of AI-powered tools.

The recent release of ChatGPT to the general public has pushed our collective buttons surrounding all things AI. But are we doing the discipline a disservice by entertaining strawman arguments over its use? As Nelson points out, we’re on the verge of harnessing the transformative benefits of AI, none of which is possible without humans at the helm. Shouldn’t our course of action be to steer clear of bans and instead engage future generations of industry leaders to think and act responsibly concerning this tech? Put another way, Are you recognizing [AI] as a threat, Nelson asks, or are you seeing this as an opportunity?

Nelson understands the human impulse towards fear where AI is concerned. As the founder of an AI-driven firm specializing in using analytics to optimize pricing, purchasing, and inventory management, he receives a lot of initial pushback from skeptics. When I talk about what Intuilize does, a lot of people in supply chain or sales [say] ˜Nelson, are you taking my job?’ Once the panic subsides, Nelson lets them in on AI’s not-so-little secret. AI helps folks make better decisions faster, freeing them to concentrate on relationship-building and other uniquely human value-adds.

The revolution has arrived.

RECOMMENDED EPISODE

DT109: Boosting Margins and Optimizing Inventory Control Via AI With Nelson Valderrama of Intuilize

MENTIONED IN THIS EPISODE

Massachusetts Institute of Technology News – AI

QUOTES

I don’t see it as a threat. I see something that can complement what I’m doing.

We cannot use the same playbook that we used for other technology in the past. This is not a fax, right? This is not the mobile. I mean, let’s put that way. This is accelerating so big. I’m just telling you, I mean, this is our company. We’re able to now crunch numbers and train robots like never before because the technology is so affordable.

What was fascinating to me is that what they mentioned there is that, yeah, it’s providing all these answers, but at the end of the day, it has to be a human that one needs to validate if the outcome is real or not real, you know what I’m saying? Because trash-in/trash-out.

You can train the machine, but still the machine is a lot dependable on the human telling If the is what they’re looking for and [if it] is positive or negative.

If you ask me a season in time that I wanted to be in distribution, it is this one. This is going to change the whole game for everyone, and it’s up to us if we want it to ride it or not.

CONNECT WITH JASON

LinkedIn

CONNECT WITH NELSON

LinkedIn

***

Distribution Talk is produced by The Distribution Team, a consulting services firm dedicated to helping wholesale distribution clients remove barriers to profitability, generate wealth and achieve personal goals.  

This episode was edited & mixed by The Creative Impostor Studios.

https://www.distributionteam.com

Special thanks to our sponsor for this episode: Connected Peers providing virtual communities for wholesale distributors.

Episode Sponsor