Solving Conversational AI with Valyant AI CEO Rob Carpenter

Rob Carpenter is the founder and CEO of Valyant AI, which is on a journey to solve the complex problem of conversational AI in the food service industry. In today’s episode, Rob explains the three main components of AI speech processing (and the challenges that arise at each of these nodes), how conversational AI has the capacity to improve conditions for human workers in the food service industry, and what this technology is going to be like in the future. After this episode, you’ll understand the importance of being more thoughtful about how you communicate your next burger and fries order to a conversational AI system.

Key Points From This Episode:

• Rob’s early interest in entrepreneurship.
• The original idea that Rob wanted to center his company around, and why it didn’t work out that way.
• What Valyant AI does.
• Long term goals that Rob has for his company.
• Challenges of conversational AI in the food service industry.
• Benefits of being an industry newcomer.
• The “three amigos” of speech processing.
• Examples of customer statements which highlight why a natural language processor is such a vital part of AI speech processing.
• How people need to learn to communicate with AI systems.
• The deficit of employees in the restaurant industry.
• Ways that conversational AI improves working conditions for food service industry employees.
• Progress that we have made as a society as a result of innovation.
• What we can expect from conversational AI in the next five to ten years.

Tweetables:

“I thought the hologram was the hard part and that the conversational AI was solved, but it was basically the inverse of that.” — Rob Carpenter [0:06:47]

“There’s benefits when you get into a new industry or technology not knowing the problems, because you don’t know what your limitations are. I think a lot of times that frees you up to be more creative and innovative.” — Rob Carpenter [0:08:38]

“If I was to postulate where things would end up, I’d say it’s probably a 90/10. 90% is that the technology has to be better, and keep getting better. 90% of everything needs to be handled by the AI. The other 10%, people need to be more thoughtful when they communicate with these systems.” — Rob Carpenter [0:17:22]

“There’s 1.7 million unfilled positions in the restaurant industry right now. 1 in 6 of every position available right now is in restaurants.” — Rob Carpenter [0:20:26]

“Innovation is not only built into economies, but it’s essential for their health and long-term safety.” — Rob Carpenter [0:23:28]

Links Mentioned in Today’s Episode:

Rob Carpenter on LinkedIn

Valyant AI