To uncover the most innovative uses of artificial intelligence in business, we posed a question to four industry leaders. From the perspective of a General Manager and a Founder, we explore unconventional applications of AI, ranging from improving the winemaking process to enhancing local service ads. Dive into these unique insights to discover how AI is reshaping the business landscape in unexpected ways.
- Improves Winemaking Process
- Forecasts Fashion Trends
- Ensures Responsible Use with AI Ethicists
- Enhances Local Service Ads
Improves Winemaking Process
Artificial intelligence is used in a way that I haven’t seen before in business: in the wine business. It is possible to predict and improve the quality of wine output with the help of AI algorithms.
AI helps winemakers decide when to pick, how to blend different types of grapes, and even the best ways to age their wines by looking at a lot of different data points, like weather, soil quality, and grape characteristics. This creative use of AI not only makes the wine better, but it also makes the process of making wine better. It shows how useful AI can be in fields other than technology.
Jay Toy, General Manager, 88stacks
Forecasts Fashion Trends
One fairly offbeat use of AI I’ve seen in business is in the fashion industry. Designers use artificial intelligence to identify emerging trends by trawling through online fashion blogs, Instagram posts, and other social media platforms.
These AI tools can recognize patterns and aesthetics in clothing, helping designers predict what could be the next big fashion trend. Rather than relying solely on human intuition, the AI adds a data-driven edge to trend forecasting. It’s quite a cool and creative way to use tech, if you ask me!
Abid Salahi, Co-Founder and CEO, FinlyWealth
Ensures Responsible Use with AI Ethicists
AI has found unconventional applications in business decision-making through “AI ethicists” or “AI decision auditors.” This isn’t overly popular now, but it’s gaining steam, and I predict we’ll see more of it soon.
These professionals evaluate and ensure the ethical and responsible use of AI systems within a company. They scrutinize AI algorithms for biases, assess the potential impacts on various stakeholders, and ensure that the AI aligns with the company’s values and ethical standards.
This innovative approach helps businesses not only harness the power of AI but also maintain transparency, fairness, and accountability in their AI-driven processes, safeguarding their reputation and ethical standing in the industry.
Josh Bluman, Co-Founder, Hoppy Copy
AI Enhances Local Service Ads
AI has been utilized as a tool to assist various local services in enhancing their Local Service Ads (LSAs). This is both an SEO strategy and a lead generation strategy, as it involves answering the phone.
Google aims to create the best experience possible with the LSA platform because their product is their search engine. We automate some phone answering when our clients are unavailable, to optimize their SEO, as response time is a critical—if not the most important—factor in how these businesses rank on Google search. The goal is to ensure that a human being answers as quickly as possible the calls, or what appears to be a human being.
We use artificial intelligence to answer the phone and answer it immediately when our clients cannot answer themselves. The more missed calls, the less lead volume you’re going to get, and Google ranks them lower on the Google LSA platform, which directly affects Google Search.
Ryan Steinolfson, Founder, Accelerate Marketing