Bio

I lead the team that built DeepBrew - the AI and Machine Learning Platform at Starbucks that serves over a billion recommendations per year. The system uses Reinforcement Learning to let users ''teach'' the DeepBrew brain how to optimize their Starbucks experience. Our overriding mandate is to achieve ''AI For Humanity'' - i.e. to bring people together and uplift everyday experiences. The ''Brain'' frees up time for our baristas so they can focus more on customer interactions, knows how to make the transaction of tens of millions of customers as personalized and frictionless as possible AND promotes sustainability initiatives. DeepBrew seeks to define a future where an ''AI For Humanity'' brings people together. This platform (and the models) is at the heart of significant change at Starbucks. Video of CEO Kevin Johnson explaining the impact of DeepBrew to Jim Cramer below: https://www.cnbc.com/video/2019/11/01/watch-cnbcs-full-interview-with-starbucks-ceo-kevin-johnson-on-q3-earnings.html (starting at min 3:13 to min 5) DeepBrew was also featured at Microsoft Build in the keynote talk by Satya Nadella. Link below: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rIJRFHDr1QE (starting at 0:43) This article by Starbucks CEO Kevin Johnson - and coverage from other media outlets - also references DeepBrew: https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/can-artificial-intelligence-help-nurture-humanity-kevin-johnson/ https://www.fool.com/investing/2019/11/08/how-starbucks-brewing-up-artificial-intelligence.aspx And JP Morgan upgraded Starbucks stock based in part on DeepBrew - from their report: “Positive momentum across the business” was cited through this approach, which included a “flipped switch” towards new artificial-intelligence based customized marketing ...... This is part of the CEO’s achievement of “building a world class AI and analytics team” with application not only to customer ordering but also inventory anticipation/replenishment and labor scheduling. The overall initiative is called “Deep Brew” and the use of technology to determine front-to back store-level operations is probably the most advanced of all brands we cover. It was even explicitly said that “software will become better than humans” when referring to making optimal efficiency/effectiveness decisions although human overrides will still be possible and situational. ...'' COO ROz Brewer article: https://finance.yahoo.com/amphtml/news/starbucks-to-use-ai-at-the-drive-thru-151414041.html Speaking engagements include: * Microsoft Build 2019 * Applied AI Summit 2020