Cloud-based machine-learning platform Wiliot recently launched its WiliBot, a generative artificial intelligence chatbot that enables natural-language conversations with any ambient internet-connected product. In this episode of the “Tip of the Iceberg,” Steve Statler, chief marketing officer and head of food safety with the company, joined the podcast to talk about how the information gathered from both Wiliot’s sensors and how WiliBot can help the produce industry.
Statler said unlike traditional RFID tags, which provide information when scanned, these new enriched tags that Wiliot provides constantly log and broadcast information such as the location and temperature of the product when an item has been shipped or received. By incorporating WiliBot, users can learn more about the products with Wiliot tags.
“We decided to build this out just to show what could be done, and you can have a conversation with WiliBot about your supply chain and start to ask some questions that go beyond what you would achieve with a simple database query,” he said.
Statler said a great fit for WiliBot is for an employee stocking a produce department or a category manager to help understand how an item has been handled, the temperature history of the item and more — going beyond the data that has been in place since Al Capone was said to have fought to get use-by dates on packaging.
“With the ambient Internet of Things we can actually have a much more scientific view of how [products have] been handled in the real world — the good, the bad, the ugly,” he said. “It can go in and tell us we can keep that for another couple of days or can we eat it.”
Statler said in the future he sees artificial intelligence helping consumers prioritize what needs to be eaten first.
“I think an [large language model] can help you with recipes and even warn you that it’s time to eat those tomatoes that have been in the back of the drawer in your fridge that you’ve forgotten,” he said. “There’s a bunch of use cases that are actually in some ways more sophisticated and can unlock savings and profit opportunities.”
Watch the full podcast episode in the video player above.
