A call to imagination
Can distributors get creative and use AI to envision—and build—a better, more human-centered supply chain?
In this edition, I share a creativity tool designed to help graphic artists work in code to explore ideas and create new works with assistance from artificial intelligence (AI). Inspired, I wonder if something similar might help turbocharge supply chain creativity. Thinking big, I imagine a tool enabling distribution’s innovators to visualize new customer experiences and then write code to make them possible. Could such a tool teach innovators how AI works, inspiring them to create unimagined value from the data locked inside distribution’s platforms? And would it shift the focus of innovation from looking inside to improve productivity and profits to gazing out into the world—seeking opportunities to create new wealth for customers, skilled workers, local communities, and our shared society?
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Radically rethinking supply chain technology
Distribution, we have a problem: We stand at the threshold of epic change, fueled by data and artificial intelligence, but our innovations have yet to match the awe-inspiring possibilities of our times. Can you name a single innovation from distribution that has caught fire outside distribution? I can’t. Distribution is an $8 trillion industry responsible for a third of the economy. Shouldn’t we lead the way with bold ideas that command attention and demand debate? I think so. And I know others do, too. But we need help.
Too often, we fixate on what holds distribution back, not what propels us forward. We leverage technology to boost our productivity and protect our profits. We imagine that doing so is transformational, but it is not. We ask technology vendors and startups to help us make data-driven decisions, automate jobs, accelerate processes, and build on what we have, never leaping ahead to achieve something fundamentally different. And we get what we ask for: solutions powered by incredible technologies deployed as modest best practices delivering low-risk, incremental progress. But our vendors are not us. We can’t outsource vision. If we want game-changing technology, we must light the way forward by proposing radically new customer solutions and experiences.
But here’s the rub: Breakthrough innovations require deep technical or scientific knowledge and an expansive creative vision—acting on both at the same time, in the same place. Very few of us have both. Steve Jobs did, and Einstein, too, and others we point to as natural-born geniuses who changed the world. But should we wait for distribution’s digital messiah? What if we don’t have to delay? What if we had a tool that helped us master artificial intelligence—not as a black box, spitting out unexplained answers, but one that worked as a mentor, suggesting code and algorithms, and then helping us apply them? And what if that same tool helped us visually represent an idea, then iterate, exploring hypotheses, following different paths, and combining the best to represent a compelling innovation worthy of our times? What if we had an instrument that worked as a transparent copilot to unlock our inner genius?
I think I’ve found such an instrument, designed not for distributors but for graphic artists, Spellburst, a tool created by world-class computer scientists and announced by a cutting-edge institution fighting for human-centered artificial intelligence.
Considering new models
I learned about Spellburst in Stanford University’s Human-Centered Artificial Intelligence Institute’s newsfeed here. Spellburst is a support tool designed to help “artists who work in code explore ideas using natural language and iterate with precision.” But Spellburst may be destined to do more. Hariharan Subramonyam explains, “We want to release the tool as open-source later this year so that artists can start using it, but we also want to study how a tool like this can help novices learn how to make art with code.”
Hmmm. I sense a possibility, not for visual artists but for supply chain innovators, those with an emerging vision but armed only with a novice’s understanding of artificial intelligence. I am far from an expert on large language models, machine learning, and AI. Heck, I trained on BASIC. I’m a dinosaur struggling to evolve. But something in my past is nudging me toward the future.
Long ago, I trained as a mechanical engineer to operate the nuclear reactors that provide power and propulsion on ships at sea. My mission demanded understanding the science and technology of reactors—not just how to operate them—as a foundation for responsible application of a fearsome technology in a fast-changing, high-consequence, purpose-driven environment. My training required years, first as an undergraduate, then in the U.S. Navy’s Nuclear Power School, and finally in the fleet, on ships at sea, where I served.
Distributors can’t wait. They can’t go back to school to get trained in artificial intelligence or any other data-centric digital technology. That’s where a tool like Spellburst might help, collapsing years into seconds, making it possible for innovators to write code on the fly, and showing them what their algorithms create. But how would my imagined tool display the new value created for customers or the new customer experiences themselves? One way might be to develop painting-like images of customers working in new ways, as I did in this edition. Another would be to create graphics that visually represent new value created by data-centric services, such as growth in the customer’s business, wealth for skilled workers, economic or social development for communities, and so on—whatever the innovator using the tool can imagine. Without a doubt, my ideas are only a launch pad.
Collaborating for breakthrough innovations
I need help, but I have a plan. After publishing this newsletter, I will send it to innovators I know, ask them to consider Spellburst, as explained in this article and its embedded videos and links, and then help me kick off a four-step process:
Challenge my hypothesis. Do you see the opportunity I imagine—a support tool for innovating the supply chain that helps operators write code to create new outcomes and customer experiences as an integrated and iterative process? If not, why not?
Gather information. Can you share stories, use cases, or examples that might help visualize the innovations such a support tool might create? If not, can you suggest others that might?
Iterate. I will process your feedback and information and write about what I find in upcoming editions. I am available by conference call for a more interactive discussion if it is helpful. If my work can help yours, let’s get together.
Collaborate. Distribution can’t go it alone. We need help to create game-changing innovation instruments. We need inspiration to imagine breakthrough services. But mostly, we need to engage with others working on parallel paths to build the best possible future. Let me know if you agree and where we might look for partners.
Stanford University’s Human-Centered Artificial Intelligence Institute (HAI) may be one such partner, offering much more than tools. To lead, distributors must put forth their vision for artificial intelligence, including how it is used and the principles that must guide supply chain innovations. HAI can help point the way forward, beginning with this vision I found in their statement of values:
AI is a general-purpose technology that can be used for good and for ill. Our vision for the future is led by our commitment to promoting human-centered uses of AI, and ensuring that humanity benefits from the technology and that the benefits are broadly shared.
HAI explains that its actions are motivated by this vision and steered by five core values, all thoughtfully defined: integrity, humanity, balance, independence, and diversity & interdisciplinarity. I believe that HAI’s vision and values offer a template for supply chain innovators and the industry associations that foster community and collective action. As a writer, Fellow of the National Association of Wholesaler-Distributors (NAW), and partner with supply chain leaders and institutions, I hope to make it so.