Artificial Interest (Hunter Field Editor’s Note)

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I am suffering from a bad case of AI exhaustion. Every way I turn, artificial intelligence is there staring me in the face.

It dominates all of the newsletters that fill my inbox every morning. Every self-proclaimed techie with a social media account fills my feed with their latest, unsolicited thoughts on the newest AI model.

Recently, Google began shoving its AI assistant at every opportunity, most annoyingly when I go to write an email. “How can Gemini help you today?” Usually, I can’t click the X fast enough.

I’ve also been frustrated as I’ve tried to create a custom GPT in ChatGPT to automate one of my weekly tasks. It… hasn’t been going well, but I know, technically, it can be done, making the repeated failures all the more frustrating.

Yet, I can’t throw in the towel because to do so would be to punt on a fundamental aspect of the future in this business.

I know many (most?) of you feel similarly. We find ourselves at the same type of crossroads Blockbuster arrived at when a spunky upstart called Netflix began shipping envelopes with DVDs to people’s homes. The truth is we’re probably years past that point.

This is reinforced by this year’s roster of finalists for Arkansas Business’ annual Innovation Pacesetter award, which recognizes companies remaking an old industry or charting an entirely new course to create a new market.

This year’s finalists are: BOND.AI, Engine, Ox, Path Fertility, Simporter Inc. and Smart Eye Technology Inc. (The winner will be announced at the Arkansas Business of the Year ceremony in Little Rock on March 5.)

All but one of those Arkansas companies are AI-centric, from Engine, which uses AI to analyze and respond to retail data, to Simporter, which uses an artificial intelligence program to analyze billions of social media posts, product reviews and online searches to identify upcoming consumer trends for major brands.

BOND.AI bridges the gap between financial and health care technology through artificial intelligence that understands and responds to individual needs.

Smart Eye Technology is a cybersecurity company that continuously verifies users’ identities with a variety of biometric factors, including facial recognition and handwriting analysis.

Ox is a warehouse optimization company that improves operations through tools like wearable AI devices and simulation modeling.

All of these companies are doing amazing things, and they leave no doubt that the bulk of innovation right now is happening around AI.

As worn out as we can get with the constant AI buzz, experimenting with and implementing these new tools are a must for just about every industry, lest we all become like Blockbuster

And if you aren’t up for it, maybe hire one of these Arkansas companies to push the envelope for you.

Email Hunter Field, editor of Arkansas Business, at hfield@abpg.com