On May 31, 2018, the Value Chain Innovation Initiative (VCII) at Stanford Graduate School of Business hosted an executive conference, “Value Chain Innovation: The Promise of AI.” Over 120 individuals, including faculty, alumni, venture capital funders, and scholars, attended the all-day event exploring the potential of artificial intelligence, or the ability of computers to perform tasks normally requiring human judgement and decision making. The event welcomed a range of speakers from industry and academia to discuss current and prospective applications of artificial intelligence in value chains as well as limitations of the technology. Speakers agreed that AI involving machine learning, and specifically technologies such as image recognition, natural language processing, deep learning, and neural networks, is already influencing business as well as society at large. These technologies are being applied to better sense customer demand, satisfy that demand through an efficient supply chain, and better integrate demand and supply. AI can deliver more precise and faster insights than other tools, and in the case of machines, it can enable automation that wasn’t previously possible. In addition to exploring cutting-edge value chain applications, speakers also looked ahead, debating the future role of human workers and considering some of the ethical questions that AI raises. The following summary highlights some of the main ideas discussed.
Copyright held by Hau L. Lee, Haim Mendelson, and Sonali V. Rammohan. Further inquires about reproduction and use should be directed to the Value Chain Innovation Initiative.
