Jodi Blomberg: Strategic Bets on AI

Jodi is the VP of Data Science at Cox Automotive, a company that has a diverse portfolio of 17 brands that encompass digital products like Kelley Blue Book and Autotrader, as well as various kinds of physical services – all of which are supported by about 70 in-house data scientists and ML engineers.

In this conversation, Jodi describes her AI initiatives as investments, managed in a way that’s similar to a diversified investment portfolio, where the core projects deliver a baseline of ROI, and are supplemented by strategic bets, plus a very small fraction of high-risk / high-reward projects (“moonshots”) that get a Yes/No decision within 4-6 weeks. The show also includes a discussion about what makes a Gen AI project strategic vs “must have,” as well as insights about the practical and human challenges associated with the kinds of AI-based initiatives that primarily target efficiency gains, rather than top-line growth.