AI Is Eating Logistics

Logistics is a multi-trillion-dollar industry that quietly powers the entire global economy — and it's shockingly manual. Ryan Petersen, founder & CEO of Flexport, joins the Lightcone to break down how AI is finally touching the physical world: making shipping cheaper, speeding up global trade, and automating work that used to live inside emails, spreadsheets, and phone calls. Chapters: 00:00 Intro 00:51 What is Flexport and what are they doing with AI? 03:17 When did AI tools become serious at the company 06:27 The benefit of internal hackathons 12:03 What internal AI projects have been most impactful at Flexport 14:40 What software can do better and faster in logistics 19:08 Do goods get cheaper if more logistics get automated? 21:18 The spiritual/philosophical implications of AI in society 23:51 How does AI change the model structure for companies? 26:38 Would Ryan have built Flexport differently today? 30:22 Outro Apply to Y Combinator: https://www.ycombinator.com/apply Work at a startup: https://www.ycombinator.com/jobs