How Logistics Veterans Should Be Thinking About AI with David Bell

AI is being hyped as the magic bullet for supply chains—but what happens when your infrastructure isn’t ready to support it? In this episode, Blythe Brumleve chats with David Bell, CEO of Cloneops.ai, about the cold, hard realities of deploying AI in logistics. From unreliable data pipelines to the complexity of nearshoring, David breaks down what’s broken, what’s fixable, and what’s still wildly misunderstood.Whether you're trying to optimize costs or just figure out how to prep your backend systems, this episode delivers the technical insights and strategy talk you didn’t know you needed.Key takeaways:Most companies overestimate their AI readiness due to poor data infrastructure.Nearshoring challenges can be solved, but not without multi-tier supply visibility.AI needs structured, reliable, and real-time data to be effective.Cost optimization often breaks down without proper freight data standardization.Internal champions for AI projects must bridge both tech and ops.LINKS:David's LinkedInCloneOps WebsiteCloneOps LogisticsAndrew Silver Interview on The Freight PodWATCH THE FULL EPISODE HERE -----------------------------------------THANK YOU TO OUR SPONSORS!SPI Logistics has been a Day 1 supporter of this podcast which is why we're proud to promote them in every episode. During that time, we've gotten to know the team and their agents to confidently say they are the best home for freight agents in North America for 40 years and counting. Listen to past episodes to hear why.CargoRex is the search engine for the logistics industry—connecting LSPs with the right tools, services, events, and creators to explore, discover, and evolve.Digital Dispatch maximizes and manages your #1 sales tool with a website that establishes trust and builds rock-solid relationships with your leads and customers.