Complex Decision Making with the Help of AI: Alexis Asks

Managing editor Alexis Mizell-Pleasant asks industry experts about various topics developing in the supply chain field. Setting clear goals and expectations for your use of AI will help steer the ship towards better decision making.

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If you're tired of hearing about AI I hate to break the news to you, but it's not going anywhere. In fact, the supply chain is leveraging AI in more ways than ever and for good reason. A McKinsey survey found that applying AI-driven forecasting to supply chain management, for example, can reduce errors by between 20 and 50%. What started as a technology highly focused on filling the gaps in visibility has taken on nearly every faction of supply chain, from management to on the floor use in warehouses, trucking, etc. 

Taking on new capacities to solve complex tasks is AI's bread and butter— including industrial tasks that were previously considered impossible. AI simulation specifically, enhances decision making with intelligence tools and predictive and/or prescriptive capabilities. In 2024, these options for AI are being adopted at rapid speed with no end in sight. Michel Morvan, executive chairman and co-founder at Cosmo Tech, predicts that it will see the development of a new stage of Generative AI, combining AI and simulation across various industries.

“2024 will see the wide adoption of enterprise decision-making technology, based on a combination of AI and simulation. The decisions will not be based on AI alone. Sophisticated decision intelligence will help decision makers navigate the complexity of global business, accelerating the process of optimization. This is a new level of generative AI, AI simulations that generate new possible scenarios and future outcomes with a level of reliability and explainability that is not possible by using solely machine learning techniques,” explains Morvan. 

These intelligence offerings are a great thing to have in your supply chain tech toolbox. Sam George, investor and board member at Cosmo Tech theorizes that these AI tools will play an increasingly critical role in influencing enterprise decisions. “If you consider the speed and complexity of the competitive landscape enterprises must navigate, it’s clear that successful enterprises will leverage AI to assist them in making critical decisions," says George. "But Generative AI in its current form is insufficient to properly assist enterprises make critical decisions. Generative AI must be married with goal seeking simulation capabilities to explore every possible outcome, and help leaders evaluate that against their goals.”

Setting clear goals and expectations for your use of AI will help steer the ship towards better decision making— including those choices in how and where AI use maximizing the outcome for 2024 supply chains and the years to come.

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