The freight forwarding and logistics company, Flexport, has introduced a range of new products and features, many of which incorporate AI, as part of its first semi-annual announcement, with plans for subsequent releases every six months.

This approach bears a resemblance to that of Airbnb, which is no coincidence, as Flexport’s founder, Ryan Petersen, drew inspiration from Airbnb’s CEO, Brian Chesky.

Petersen revealed in an interview that Chesky’s advice, as outlined in Paul Graham’s essay “Founder Mode,” prompted him to adopt this strategy. The next product release is scheduled for late summer, according to Flexport.

Petersen explained to TechCrunch that adopting a twice-yearly “release” cadence offers two significant benefits: the power of a deadline and enhanced marketing opportunities.

“We’ve developed a lot of great technology over the years, but it tends to be released incrementally, without much fanfare or buzz, making it challenging to share our story and showcase our achievements to customers,” Petersen told TechCrunch.

Flexport is launching over 20 products on Monday, many of which were already in internal use, all powered by a combination of AI from OpenAI, Anthropic, and AWS. This significant product promotion comes after Petersen completed his first full year back as Flexport’s CEO, following the departure of former Amazon executive Dave Clark in late 2023.

Among the new products is Flexport Intelligence, which enables businesses to access information about their shipments using natural language prompts. Another product, Control Tower, will provide customers with real-time visibility and control over their entire logistics network, even for freight not managed by Flexport.

Previously, Flexport staff performed these tasks for customers. The integration of AI to facilitate these tasks and mediate relationships marks a significant shift for the company, especially given that Petersen had cited the devaluation of customer relationships as a reason for Clark’s departure.

Petersen emphasized that the company remains committed to prioritizing human relationships, saying, “I’m still a huge believer in ‘people first.'” The new products will offer “the best of both worlds,” allowing businesses to call a Flexport team member for assistance if needed.

Petersen expects that embracing AI will lead to job growth at Flexport, rather than replacing workers.

“I believe the company that successfully automates this work will not have fewer workers, but more, as it will experience rapid growth and require additional staff for services, sales, consulting, technology, and development,” he said.

Flexport has also introduced AI-powered voice agents in some of its workflows, albeit with caution. The company is currently testing this capability with truckers and warehouses that use its logistics platform.

Petersen stressed that the AI voice agent is used for simple conversations, such as notifying drivers of available loads and verifying details with warehouses, while Flexport still relies on its regular workflow for transactions. He expressed hesitation about expanding the use of voice agents until their capability and reliability improve.

“My standard quality bar for making these features customer-facing is extremely high,” he said. “I envision a future where customers will be satisfied interacting with AI if it can effectively answer their questions.”

Petersen does not plan to slow down the pace of AI adoption, however, citing the speed at which Flexport can experiment and implement new technologies.

“Our teams can identify areas of customer pain and develop AI-powered solutions to address them, which can be implemented and used by thousands of companies the very next day, without requiring enterprise contracts or persuasion,” he said.