Hungryroot reposted this
What’s AI hype versus reality? At the Citi GenAI Conference yesterday, we discussed the current state of AI, its promise and limitations, and investor and consumer perceptions. Here are some takeaways: When people talk about AI today, they tend to focus on generative AI, which we’ve become familiar with through tools like ChatGPT. In fact, Citi’s conference wasn’t the AI Conference, it was the GenAI Conference. That’s because generative AI is where major innovations have occurred recently, plus it’s relatable — it can talk to us, create art, write code, and more. At Hungryroot, our sequence predictor system, which we built from scratch to predict what you’ll want next based on your recent orders is generative AI, but we also have a classical AI recommender system and other non-gen AI models that are equally transformative. Over the next couple of years, we believe the focus will return to the opportunity in AI more broadly, with less emphasis on the large language models associated with generative AI. Relatedly, people tend to think about AI as having three layers: infrastructure (NVIDIA, Amazon Web Services (AWS), etc.), models (OpenAI, Google, etc.), and applications (Netflix, Glean, etc.). There’s a lot of debate about where the most value will accrue. Some people think it will look like an hourglass (most of the value to the infrastructure and application layers); others think it’ll be a pear (value to the infrastructure and models). At Hungryroot, we’re most bullish about the application layer and how innovations can disrupt entire industries. At the application layer, it’s clear the focus is currently on the enterprise. At the Citi conference, Hungryroot was the only consumer company that presented; the other 20+ presenting companies sell their AI solutions to businesses. Alongside Sanjay Dhawan, Bob van Luijt and Vishal Marria, I spoke about vertical applications of AI, specifically how it’s disrupting the grocery industry, creating entirely new customer experiences that are more convenient and tailored to personal goals. Lastly, it’s clear leading in AI requires constant innovation and growth since the technology is advancing so rapidly. Our goal at Hungryroot is to lead the grocery industry in using AI to help people live better, healthier lives. We were also recently named one of the top companies in the world using #AI to combat food waste. The opportunity is huge, and we are inspired each day by the challenge. Thank you to Elinor L. Hoover, Jan Metzger and the Citi team for including us in the conference.