Gen AI Shouldn’t Mean “Generic” 

It seems that “AI” and “generative AI” (gen AI) got turned into buzzwords in the supply chain and maritime ecosystems following Chat GPT’s explosive arrival on the scene. The race to brand every new solution as “AI” and include generic AI solutions in the conversation means buyers should beware. 

Vertical AI as the Foundation

Windward has long preached the importance of vertical AI for the supply chain. 

“…vertical AI companies can develop domain-specific algorithms – those that consider factors like vessel behavior patterns, historical data, and industry-specific variables to enable highly accurate predictions and efficient exception handling. This allows operators to know the exact reason for a postponed arrival time such as a rollover, a transshipment delay, late departure, a short transshipment buffer, a misallocated vessel, or incorrect transit times provided by the carrier,” wrote Windward Co-Founder and CEO, Ami Daniel, in Supply and Demand Chain Executive. 

Without this foundation, shiny new generative AI solutions will not be fully effective at achieving some of the main goals set forward by freight forwarders, importers and exporters. 

Use Cases

For instance, ocean freight has been relying on various manual methods for managing exceptions and optimizing yield for freight forwarders and shippers. Leveraging the power of advanced algorithms and data analytics, generative AI could reshape these two functions, scaling up automation and customer service in real-time, which would spike operational efficiency and cost savings.

Generative AI paired with vertical AI that was shaped by supply chain experts could alert freight forwarders’ customers to exceptions, but existing technology already does that and we can allow ourselves to think bigger. It is already possible to receive immediate, automatically-generated messages containing your organization’s service level agreements, rates, and customer commitments. 

What if this could be taken to the next level with an immediate, automatically-generated message that explains how a specific exception affects your service level agreements and rates, tariffs, and commitments to your customers? 

Powered by generative AI’s ability to ingest and analyze unstructured data and documents, freight forwarders and shippers could receive an informative communication that could also include the email that the freight forwarder should send to their customer about the exception. 

The process would look like this: 

Data → Exception → Contract → Recommendations (including an email) 

With the help of generative AI, freight forwarders could offer customized advisory and resolution suggestions to customers, based on the analysis of specific exceptions. By understanding the nature of the disruption and its potential impact, the system could generate tailored recommendations for customers, outlining alternative solutions or mitigation strategies. 

This personalized communication would demonstrate a commitment to customer satisfaction and foster a sense of partnership between the freight forwarder and the customer, even in challenging situations.

Don’t Miss Our Webinar!

During tomorrow’s webinar, experts from AWS and Windward will explain how the vertical and gen AI technology combination can take your organization’s risk management, shipment logistics, and business intelligence to the next level.

Seize the opportunity to be at the forefront of the AI revolution in the maritime domain. You don’t want to miss out. Register now. 

It’s a natural progression for us here at Windward, the leading Maritime AI™ company, to help pioneer the application of generative AI to the ocean freight and maritime spheres. We are excited to see what develops. And AWS‘ interest and pedigree speak for themselves.

Do you have good ideas about how generative AI could transform the ocean freight industry or about what you’d like to see in a solution? Please bring them to tomorrow’s webinar…