AI tools get promoted to teammate status

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AI tools get promoted to teammate status

26 Mar 2026

Mari Rydings

Mari Rydings is a versatile content creator, editor and marketer with experience developing dynamic, results-driven materials for B2B and B2C audiences. As the editorial director for Avant Food Media, she leads the day-to-day editorial operations for the company’s print and digital magazines, newsletters and social media platforms. Outside of work, she loves reading, hiking, putting together jigsaw puzzles and spending time with her husband and their twin daughters.

KANSAS CITY, MO — ChatGPT, Claude, Perplexity, Gemini, Copilot. The list of AI assistants ready to help businesses improve productivity, manage information and automate repetitive tasks has grown exponentially in a short amount of time.

Having access to these platforms is one thing; knowing how to effectively deploy them enterprise-wide, both on and off the production floor, is another. Nick Pericle, founder of Tenexity AI, joined BEMA-U‘s second quarterly Market Minute educational session to share practical insights on AI that attendees could put to use immediately. The Baking Industry Forum presented the session in conjunction with BEMA.

“AI is moving so quickly that it’s challenging many of the ways we think about technology, our technology stacks, procurement process, security and governance standpoints,” Pericle said. “The reality is that most organizations aren’t set up from a governance standpoint to adapt to this type of change.”

Addressing data security challenges

One of the biggest concerns many commercial bakers have with adopting AI is data security. A bakery’s intellectual property — perfected recipes, new product innovation, proprietary processes — is its prized possession. Uploading that information to an AI platform could potentially expose it to competitors and cybersecurity breaches.

“One of the biggest fallacies of AI is that the tools aren’t secure,” Pericle said. “That’s not true. Every tool has a free version and a business, or enterprise, version. When you invest in the business version, your data is secure. No one else can get access to it. It does not go out to your competitors or the wider world. And, these companies must follow security and compliance guidelines.”

Optimizing AI tools for success

Optimizing the capabilities of an AI platform begins with two simple steps: use the most advanced version available and activate “thinking mode,” which forces the AI to analyze the intent of the request vs. simply providing a quick summary.

“Another way to optimize the tool is to use transcription and voice mode,” Pericle added. “Typing in a request doesn’t provide enough information. By using voice mode and talking to the AI, we can naturally give it a lot more information. By combining the most advanced model, thinking mode and voice mode, the tool will provide not only a summary but also a comprehensive document.”

He likened working with AI to working with a teammate. The interaction requires a bit of back and forth, several iterations, and updating incorrect or outdated information. Similar to humans, today’s AI tools can fulfill requests using different input modes, be it typed words, voice commands, images, or a combination.

Pericle also noted that AI’s ability to create documents in the standard formats that efficiently move work along within organizations — Word, PowerPoint, Excel — has significantly improved how business gets done.

“Instead of spending time on how we format information, on what the output looks like, we need to focus on the content,” Pericle said. “What is it that we’re trying to communicate? What is the value we’re trying to get across with these documents? The reality is that AI tools can change, modify and improve the format much faster than we can.”

Future-proofing business

Pericle dismissed the common speculation that AI will replace human jobs or cause businesses to restructure their operations. Instead, he believes the technology will allow companies to make significant progress.

“The biggest opportunity organizations have is leveraging AI to create better, more thorough, more personalized software experiences for their employees, for their company, for their customers, in order to help drive business forward,” he said.