Skip to content
Search AI Powered

Latest Stories

How clever is that chatbot?

Today’s AI-enabled chatbots can compare products, make personalized recommendations, and troubleshoot complex problems. And it appears that’s only the beginning.

Oh, you work in logistics, too? Then you’ve probably met my friends Truedi, Lumi, and Roger.

No, you haven’t swapped business cards with those guys or eaten appetizers together at a trade-show social hour. But the chances are good that you’ve had conversations with them. That’s because they’re the online chatbots “employed” by three companies operating in the supply chain arena—TrueCommerce, Blue Yonder, and Truckstop. And there’s more where they came from. A number of other logistics-focused companies—like ChargePoint, Packsize, FedEx, and Inspectorio—have also jumped in the game.


While chatbots are actually highly technical applications, most of us know them as the small text boxes that pop up whenever you visit a company’s home page, eagerly asking questions like:

“I’m Truedi, the virtual assistant for TrueCommerce. Can I help you find what you need?”

“Hey! Want to connect with a rep from our team now?”

“Hi there. Can I ask you a quick question?”

Chatbots have proved particularly popular among retailers—an October survey by artificial intelligence (AI) specialist NLX found that a full 92% of U.S. merchants planned to have generative AI (GenAI) chatbots in place for the holiday shopping season. The companies said they planned to use those bots for both consumer-facing applications—like conversation-based product recommendations and customer service automation—and for employee-facing applications like automating business processes in buying and merchandising.

But how smart are these chatbots really? It varies. At the high end of the scale, there’s “Rufus,” Amazon’s GenAI-powered shopping assistant. Amazon says millions of consumers have used Rufus over the past year, asking it questions either by typing or speaking. The tool then searches Amazon’s product listings, customer reviews, and community Q&A forums to come up with answers. The bot can also compare different products, make product recommendations based on the weather where a consumer lives, and provide info on the latest fashion trends, according to the retailer.

Another top-shelf chatbot is “Manhattan Active Maven,” a GenAI-powered tool from supply chain software developer Manhattan Associates that was recently adopted by the Army and Air Force Exchange Service. The Exchange Service, which is the 54th-largest retailer in the U.S., is using Maven to answer inquiries from customers—largely U.S. soldiers, airmen, and their families—including requests for information related to order status, order changes, shipping, and returns.

However, not all chatbots are that sophisticated, and not all are equipped with AI, according to IBM. The earliest generation—known as “FAQ chatbots”—are only clever enough to recognize certain keywords in a list of known questions and then respond with preprogrammed answers. In contrast, modern chatbots increasingly use conversational AI techniques such as natural language processing to “understand” users’ questions, IBM said. It added that the next generation of chatbots with GenAI capabilities will be able to grasp and respond to increasingly complex queries and even adapt to a user’s style of conversation.

As clever as they are now, those chatbots are likely to become even smarter in the near future, judging by the large investments in AI being made by industry leaders. In the past few months alone, we’ve seen Microsoft and Accenture announce an initiative to train 5,000 professionals on AI as they prepare to launch a new AI-focused practice, and a whopping $4 billion investment by Amazon in the AI-building firm Anthropic.

Given their wide range of capabilities, it’s not always easy to know just how “smart” the chatbot you’re talking to is. But come to think of it, maybe that’s also true of the live workers we come in contact with each day. Depending on who picks up the phone, you might find yourself speaking with an intern who’s still learning the ropes or a seasoned professional who can handle most any challenge. Either way, the best way to interact with our new chatbot colleagues is probably to take the same approach you would with their human counterparts: Start out simple, and be respectful; you never know what you’ll learn.

More Stories

chart of GenAI effect on workforce

Gartner: GenAI tools create anxiety among employees

Generative AI (GenAI) is being deployed by 72% of supply chain organizations, but most are experiencing just middling results for productivity and ROI, according to a survey by Gartner, Inc.

That’s because productivity gains from the use of GenAI for individual, desk-based workers are not translating to greater team-level productivity. Additionally, the deployment of GenAI tools is increasing anxiety among many employees, providing a dampening effect on their productivity, Gartner found.

Keep ReadingShow less
screenshot of oracle AI agents

Oracle adds AI agents to supply chain and manufacturing software

Enterprise software vendor Oracle has introduced new AI-powered logistics and order management capabilities within its “Oracle Fusion Cloud Supply Chain & Manufacturing” (Oracle Cloud SCM) platform, saying the upgrade will help supply chain and logistics leaders increase visibility, reduce costs, enhance decision-making, and improve customer satisfaction.

The company’s Oracle Cloud SCM is part of its Oracle Fusion Cloud Applications Suite, and enables customers to connect supply chain processes and quickly respond to changing demand, supply, and market conditions. In addition, embedded AI now acts as an advisor to help analyze supply chain data, generate content, and augment or automate processes to help improve business operations and create a resilient supply network to outpace change, Oracle says.

Keep ReadingShow less
solar panels in a field

J.B. Hunt launches solar farm to power its three HQ buildings

Supply chain solution provider J.B. Hunt Transport Services Inc. has launched a large-scale solar facility that will generate enough electricity to offset up to 80% of the power used by its three main corporate campus buildings in Lowell, Arkansas.

The 40-acre solar facility in Gentry, Arkansas, includes nearly 18,000 solar panels and 10,000-plus bi-facial solar modules to capture sunlight, which is then converted to electricity and transmitted to a nearby electric grid for Carroll County Electric. The facility will produce approximately 9.3M kWh annually and utilize net metering, which helps transfer surplus power onto the power grid.

Keep ReadingShow less
a drone flying in a warehouse

Geodis goes airborne to speed cycle counts

As a contract provider of warehousing, logistics, and supply chain solutions, Geodis often has to provide customized services for clients.

That was the case recently when one of its customers asked Geodis to up its inventory monitoring game—specifically, to begin conducting quarterly cycle counts of the goods it stored at a Geodis site. Trouble was, performing more frequent counts would be something of a burden for the facility, which still conducted inventory counts manually—a process that was tedious and, depending on what else the team needed to accomplish, sometimes required overtime.

Keep ReadingShow less
boxes in a freight trailer

Gartner: some enterprises could turn tariff volatility to their advantage

With the new Trump Administration continuing to threaten steep tariffs on Mexico, Canada, and China as early as February 1, supply chain organizations preparing for that economic shock must be prepared to make strategic responses that go beyond either absorbing new costs or passing them on to customers, according to Gartner Inc.

https://www.gartner.com/en/newsroom/press-releases/2025-01-28-gartner-says-supply-chain-organizations-can-use-tariff-volatility-to-drive-competitive-advantage

Keep ReadingShow less