Lastly, she said, AI and other technology can unlock huge productivity gains for menial tasks like managing logistics and operations. “How we manage the factories much more efficiently, how we manage the warehouses, all the logistics—this is a big cost for manufacturing,” Kanioura said. And AI can be used to manage downtime, service levels, and fleets.
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Matt Baer, CEO of Stitch Fix, believes that the “healthy state of a corporation is in a state of transformation.” The best businesses know their clients deeply and personally, can predict what they want in the future, and look ahead to where the market is going, he said.
He described how Stitch Fix is using AI to improve the overall client journey. As a company, its goal is towards ultrapersonalized experiences where “no two people will have the same interaction with Stitch Fix,” Baer said. “But at the same time, we work very hard to protect the human connection between the stylist and client, and we believe that human connection is actually at the core what is our competitive differentiator in retail … Our stylists are often the first person that finds out if a client is engaged, or if the client is expecting, or they’ve had a promotion and they need to refresh their wardrobe. Stylists get invited to their client’s wedding, and AI is not getting a wedding invitation.”
For Arianna Huffington, founder of Thrive Global, a behavior change technology company helping individuals reduce stress and prevent burnout, her view of AI is that it’s merely accelerating a shift already underway in the pharma industry, “moving from having a transactional relationship with a consumer … to be a partner on your health journey.” What Thrive Global as an AI behavior change company offers, she said, is a way to further improve pharma’s relationship with the consumer, therefore improving adherence to drugs or other health care regimens. “The advantage of AI is that you can use the AI power of hyper-personalization to target nudges and recommendations depending on what your preferences are, how you sleep, what you’re dealing with,” she added.
Huffington acknowledges that a lot of people are very anxious about AI. “If we’re going to win this AI race, we need to invest in humans. We can’t just invest in machines,” she said. “Invest in humans in every way—in their health, in their resilience,” and if AI ends up helping people work less and have more time, “we also need to help people learn what to do with this new time … that is productive but also fun.”
In terms of advice for new grads entering the job market in this age of AI, Baer said what he looks for in potential hires has stayed the same: “Intellectual curiosity, an entrepreneurial spirit, strong communication skills, and passion for the work that you do.” These are traits that make candidates successful at any stage of their career, at any job, and that doesn’t change no matter where technology is at, he said.
As for future leaders, Kanioura said that the one trait that will be most crucial to have in this fast-changing world is agility: the ability to “capture the trends, capture the signals, and adapt very quickly.”
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