Experts from a variety of industries agree that humans will “remain in the loop” as artificial intelligence becomes even more ingrained in the workplace and continues to reshape our organizations.
At the annual
Northwestern Mutual Data Science Institute symposium, held Tuesday at Marquette University, executives from the
Milwaukee Bucks,
Harley-Davidson,
Direct Supply,
Marquette University and
Northwestern Mutual shared how they’re using AI within their companies, and how the technology is reshaping the hiring process.
Milwaukee-based Direct Supply is using technology to ease the stress their clients may feel as they operate senior living communities.
The company’s DSSI program helps senior health care organizations procure necessities like food and medical equipment at a lower cost.
Direct Supply has been using AI-based technologies, including large language models and natural language processing, to completely re-imagine its food service program to help senior care providers navigate the challenge of managing menus and ordering ingredients.
“Over the past six months, we’ve built a platform that brings all these (technologies) together and makes it easy for dietary managers to drop in a menu, receive the exact cost, see what product is available, and provide a better experience for their customers,” said
Randy Kirk, executive vice president and chief scientist at Direct Supply.
Direct Supply also introduced food services robots into the senior care setting to both optimize the food delivery process and allow clients to spend more time with their patients.
"There was a delight in that experience that people actually enjoyed, and it eased some of the challenge that the workers felt," said Kirk. "If you've ever tried to serve people, whether at home or working in a restaurant, trying to navigate all that and take care of this person who's experiencing a meal is a real challenge.”
At Harley-Davidson, AI helps the company with sales forecasting, among other things.
"The number one question is, how many motorcycles are we going to sell? That influences a lot of different decisions,” said
Matt McCarthy, director of insights and analytics at Harley-Davidson. “It influences life cycle planning. We need to know what parts of the configuration of the portfolio matter and what parts of the motorcycles matter to drive new volumes. That feeds into supply chain planning, which then feeds into inventory planning.”
McCarthy says humans are making decisions about using AI in so many ways that it would be impossible to get rid of them completely.
Talent development and hiring
Northwestern Mutual is using the AI platform Synthesia to help with talent development.
Given the fact that the technology industry is changing at a breakneck pace, the use of digital avatars to train workers affords Northwestern Mutual extra speed and efficiency.
"It allows us to input a script and text and create an avatar," said
Anthony Perrone, vice president of talent at Northwestern Mutual. "We can change things on the fly whenever things need to be changed. It allows us to be more agile.”
Richard Povinelli, a professor of electrical and computer engineering at Marquette, works with companies looking to integrate AI into their operations.
In Cudahy, he’s worked with
ATI Forged Products to introduce the technology within their manufacturing process.
"The AI there is used to figure out, from the input parameters that we're looking at, whether we've got a good die or not (and) whether it's filled with the products viable or not," said Povinelli.
As the manufacturing workforce ages, using AI to capture – not replace – institutional knowledge will become increasingly important.
"We're trying to capture the expertise within systems that can both do the job but also train other people," said Povinelli.
Sumathi Thiyagarajan, senior vice president of analytics and business operations for the Milwaukee Bucks, explained Tuesday how the company is using AI to support its sales team.
The Bucks use a language modeling chatbot to help the company’s sales representatives “nurture and qualify” sales leads before they reach the sales team.
"We're making that initial sales and marketing funnel as narrow as possible and then creating a warmer exchange and relationship between you and your sales rep,” said Thiyagarajan.
When it comes to hiring, she’s more interested in a candidate’s soft skills rather than their technical skills.
“When I hire for these roles, I don’t care if you can code or not,” said Thiyagarajan. “You can be taught coding. As long as you’re curious and want to solve problems, we’re ready to talk to you. We also need someone who can communicate.”
She sees it as her responsibility to not only find and nurture the incoming generation of tech workers, but to also make sure the Milwaukee Bucks are well-positioned as a leader within the ever-changing marketplace.
"You have to future proof your company, and you have to future proof your workforce,” said Thiyagarajan. “It's a responsibility."
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