CXNext

I've always been an advocate of time management. It's the best way to make sure you actually get things done. 

Well, today's AI:IRL guest co-founded a startup, TimeHero, that's taking time management to the next level. Scott Brooks joined me on the show to talk about how he's bringing AI to the world of calendar management.

What we talked about:

• The problem we're facing with time management today
• How TimeHero is attacking this problem
• How they're leveraging AI to do it

Resources we talked about:

• Scott's LinkedIn
• TimeHero

The world of customer conversion is complex. It has a lot of data inputs, a lot of unknowns. But there's a lot of interest in using AI to drive customer conversion and there are some really exciting use cases out there. 

So, I'm excited for today's episode of AI:IRL, where Stephanie Plunkett, Senior Principal Scientist at Altria, joined me to talk about how AI can really transform customer conversion within your business.

What we talked about:

• How AI can help drive customer conversion
• How leveraging AI helped Altria increase conversion rates
• The benefits of using AI in this way

Resources we talked about:

• Stephanie's LinkedIn
• Altria

People get excited about AI. But a lot of times, they get lost in the hype.

So, on this episode of AI:IRl, Guy Zipori joined me to talk through what's hype and what's reality. He also talked about some things we need to keep in mind when it comes to AI and how you can determine if AI is right for your business.

Guy is a serial entrepreneur on his third startup, Skyline AI. And with a background in tech, he's been living in this world of big data, machine learning, and AI, through a number of generations of this tech. 

What we talked about:

• AI vs. the A-Try
• Why we're not asking the right questions when it comes to leveraging AI
• How to determine whether AI is right for your company

Resources we talked about:

• Guy's LinkedIn
• Skyline AI

When people think about AI, there's often a lot of fear, uncertainty, and doubt that comes up. We wonder whether the technology will replace human jobs or what's our role in the development of AI. But we don't really talk about these things.

That's why I'm so excited about this episode of AI:IRL. Prayag Narula joined me to flesh out the human role in the development, management, and utilization of AI. We also talked about the impact AI will have on humans — will it really take over our jobs? 

Prayag is the Founder of LeadGenius, a demand generation automation company that uses a combination of data mining, tech, and crowdsourcing to automation and accelerate outbound sales and marketing. 

Did you know that each year farmers lose about 35% of their production to pests, like insects, weeds, and crop disease? Increasing that yield by just 2% would be life changing — in terms of profit for the farmer but also in terms of global food security. 

Yet those fields have the potential to produce 35% more. Imagine the difference that would make. 35%. That's what's on the mind of Ofir Shlam and his team at Taranis.

On this episode of AI:IRL, I sat down with Ofir to look at another way AI is changing lives. We talked about Taranis is applying AI to increase crop yields in agriculture, the framework they used to do that, and how this application of AI will make a positive impact around the world. 

Often times, people get caught up in technology for technology's sake. But we should really be using technology more strategically to help us do one thing: make better decisions.

With 25 years of experience, Gary Saarenvirta, Founder and CEO of Daisy Intelligence, is an expert at doing exactly that — implementing technology to help companies make better decisions. Daisy is focused on delivering AI powered technology that helps retailers make decisions that drive higher sales and profits.

Gary came on the latest episode of AI:IRL to talk about the work he's doing at Daisy, how you can leverage AI to make better decisions, and why we should view AI as augmenting human capabilities instead of replacing them.

You only need to look at the media or read a news report to see that the retail industry is facing challenging times. There are big things about store closures, bankruptcy, etc. 

But these challenging times bring plenty of opportunity, as well. Retailers must step up and focus on serving customers in an exquisite way. And with the rise of technology and things like AI, there is that opportunity to serve customers better than ever before. 

On this episode of AI: IRL Oliver Banks joins me to talk about how retailers can think strategically about the digital transformation to create the best possible customer experience. 

It's usually completely obvious when you're speaking to an AI, right?

Actually, that's exactly the way it ought to be.

I got to talk to Arjun Pillai, Founder & CEO at Insent.ai, about transforming engagement with prospects and customers through conversational AI.

Within standard AI, Arjun is building a B2B conversational marketing platform that will enable marketing and sales to engage one-to-one with their prospects and give them a very personalized real-time experience supported by AI.

"We are not trying to camouflage the bot as a human," Arjun said.

To learn how conversational AI will connect humans to humans in real time, listen to the podcast.

This week's episode is a followup to the excitement of the VentureBeat Transform conference in San Francisco. The discussion continues the discourse on how AI technology and humans can work together to create a new way to transform our world. 

Today's guest, Amit Ben, who is the head of AI at LogMein, dives into the historical relationship between humans and technology.

Citing the first typewriter, he explains that adapting humans to technology has been the status quo for decades. However, with the influx of AI capabilities, that's all about to change. 

We often touch on the opportunity to leverage AI to create a better user experience. 

So, on this episode of AI:IRL, I invited Vittorio Banfi, a great subject-matter expert, to add to that conversation. Vittorio brings an interesting perspective on the mix of user interface and user design.

Vittorio talked about his company, Botsociety, and how it came to be. He also shared two great points to keep in mind as you start experimenting with AI solutions in your own company.