Artificial intelligence is revolutionizing the supply chain, and Microsoft's entrant is Dynamics 365 Copilot, says Mike Bassani, general manager for supply chain at Microsoft.

In Bassani’s view, artificial intelligence, which has been around for years, has been a “match made in heaven” all this time. “Over the past decade, we've seen AI involved in such things as route planning and forecasting. It's been part of how we have evolved the supply chain. But I do believe that this time it's different.”

For one thing, there’s been an evolution in large-language models and what Bassani calls their “democratization.” He notes, for instance, that “ChatGPT is the first piece of technology we've seen reach a hundred million users so fast.”

That’s brought AI to the dinner table, in a manner of speaking. “There are lots of conversations with people who have not had backgrounds in computer science or data science, but they're interacting with AI in ways that feel accessible,” Bassani says. “And from a supply chain perspective, that's great, because the people who are in our supply chains are very much more representative of the people who are at our dinner tables than the people who are doing computer algorithms and data science on a day-to-day basis.”

Historically, the supply chain hasn’t adopted consumer technology at the same pace as that of other industries, Bassani says. “If we are able to capitalize on this moment, I think it will not only do wonders for people in supply chain, but end consumers as well.”

Sustainability is one area of the supply chain that will benefit from AI, Bassani says. “Sustainability is such a critical component of the supply chain because we are such large contributors to it. And if we don't get it right, we will not be able to meet the net-zero goals that many organizations have.”