Black Lake Technologies Founder Tests AI Sales Coaching

Founder of Black Lake Technologies Yuxiang Zhou conducted an experiment pitting an AI sales coach against the company's most experienced sales leader. The results showed that seven out of 10 senior salespeople preferred the AI's advice. The system used pins to record conversations and locations, which an AI agent trained for coaching then processed.

Speaking at the Fortune Leaders Forum in Macau on September 8, Zhou stated that many of his decisions are now made by agents and large language models. He noted that while AI is effective for coaching, it remains emotionless and cannot motivate teams. Zhou argued that the "Google moment" for AI has not yet occurred and believes it will happen only when AI is used to restructure industries rather than simply replace human workers.

Other industry leaders at the forum discussed the evolving nature of professional expertise. Becca Carroll of IDEO highlighted the speed of market competition in the AI era, while James Arnett of Wipro described a leadership shift from directing to orchestrating.