Why He Sold His Freight Empire to Build an AI Company

In this week’s episode of The FreightCaviar Podcast, we sat down with David Bell, Founder and CEO of CloneOps.ai–  an AI-powered software solution that is revolutionizing how companies manage their business communications. He breaks down how the company is transforming logistics operations, talks about the importance of trust, and shares insights on the future of AI. 

Like many others, David found his way into the industry by accident. In the early 1990s, he owned a car stereo shop and a Cellular One franchise. After watching a friend succeed in trucking, he decided to try his own hand at it by launching his own company.

After nearly thirty years of running his own brokerage–  and later a staffing solutions company– David sold Smith Transportation Services to a private equity group in 2018. As AI began getting more popular in the logistics space, he decided to take a chance on the emerging technology.

“I was kind of bored, then AI started popping up. I missed the dot com, I missed the Bitcoin, and I thought, ‘I’m not gonna miss AI. And it fits with the whole customer base I’ve always had.”

After more than three decades spent in the industry, David gathered some nuggets of wisdom. ‘Integrity and trust is everything’, he says.

“Price is really important, but people also want trust. They want a built-in margin they can pay. They would rather pay a little more and know their products get delivered when they’re supposed to.”

The company’s AI-powered software feature acts like an assistant, handling routine tasks so you can focus on what matters most.

David walked us through the solution developed by the team and the idea behind it.

“I felt like I could build an interactive dashboard where you can see your AI agents at work. We have sediment analysis on the calls so they can detect if the call’s going well or not."

But what differentiates their product from others out there? 

"If a driver is not giving you the information you need or not working well with the AI you can do a live takeover of the conversation.”

When watching the transcript in real-time, you can jump in by hitting the ‘Live Takeover’ button, as you’re watching the conversation play out, instead of wasting time and transferring the call.

When asked about the near future, David says AI will continue taking over the more mundane tasks, leaving you with only a few key things on your to-do list.

“I think in five years people are going to wake up and see their AI is already done with half the work. It's going to answer your emails, texts, and calls. What’s gonna happen is, it's going to say, ‘Hey, here’s your to-do list. This is the stuff I couldn’t get done.”

In David’s opinion, the sooner people get used to using AI, the sooner they will realize that it’s better than dealing with a grumpy broker or driver over the phone.

On top of the real-time language translating tests they’re currently undergoing, CloneOps.ai is staying busy working on making lives easier for owner-operators.

Will AI take over jobs?

David compares the future adoption of AI to the once-unthinkable shift to smartphones. 

It doesn’t necessarily mean replacement– it takes people off of the mundane tasks that AI can do, letting them focus on more important things.

“I don’t think it’s going to take over most of the jobs. People are going to adapt once they start using AI.” 

Artificial intelligence is like a snowball– once it gains momentum it can’t be stopped. Today is just the beginning, and we're excited to see what CloneOps.ai will create in the future.

Listen to the entire interview on Apple Podcasts, or Spotify, or watch it on our YouTube Channel.