When people talk about the place of AI in the workforce, it’s mostly doom and gloom about how AI is going to take your job. I’ve even sounded the alarm myself about podcasts entirely produced and hosted without the contribution of a single human being.

My lunch guests today are coming at AI from a whole different angle.

As he sits here eating lunch, Daniel Crowley’s AI employee, Chuck, is hard at work, manning Daniel’s business, Hello Gravel. Hello Gravel isn’t a dating app. It’s a gravel delivery business. You know, gravel. Little rocks. Actually, there are all types of gravel. And before you order a truckload, you’re going to need to know exactly what you want. Chuck can help you with that.

Chuck – who, just to be clear, is not a human being - can also tell you how much gravel you need and answer any and all questions you might have about gravel. He’ll also take your payment and schedule your delivery. AI Chuck is closing gravel sales every day. Last month he brought in $150,000.

Dave Maher is part owner and Chief Digital Officer at a marketing company called Zehnder that’s headquartered here in New Orleans and has offices in Baton Rouge, Nashville, and Rosemary Beach, Florida.

Two things about that sentence:  One, Dave is part owner of Zehnder along with his 64 colleagues. Zehnder is what’s called an ESOP - a business classification that stands for Employee Stock Ownership Plan, in which all of the employees own the company. And, two, having an office in Rosemary Beach Florida is a little unusual. So here’s the skinny on that:

Rosemary Beach is primarily fueled by tourism, and it’s not the kind of place you go for a budget vacation. So, you’ve got a bunch of people with a significant amount of spending power, and there’s only so many hours a day they can spend on the beach. The rest of their vacation they’re looking for something to do that suits their personal interest. They might want to discover a good bookstore, a great yoga class, tennis lessons, or other activities they would enjoy doing on vacation, if they knew where to find them.

That’s where Dave’s AI creation, Ask Seemore, comes in. Rosemary Beach is in Walton County, Florida, and Seemore the turtle is the logo of Walton County Tourism. Dave Maher’s AI version of Seemore is on your phone. He’s on vacation with you. He knows where you are, what you like, what you probably want to do next, and where to do it. Ask Seemore is like going on vacation with a local who totally gets you.

Out to Lunch was recorded live over lunch at Columns in Uptown New Orleans. You can find photos from this show by Jill Lafleur at itsneworleans.com.

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