Latest / New Era Reseller / Give Your AI the Valet Key

Transcript

Give Your AI the Valet Key · New Era Reseller

• 0:00
  Robin Joy: Ended up being something that, he made a rendering of.
• 0:03
  Robin Joy: He even made a sales page so I could sell the thing.
• 0:06
  Brian Olson: it's Section 19 in that, and it's absolutely not unclear.
• 0:11
  Brian Olson: It's not unclear at all, actually.
• 0:13
  Brian Olson: The AI company that you're using, Gemini, Grok, Claude, ChatGPT, whatever it is, they didn't sign your agreement.
• 0:21
  Brian Olson: You did, and you are still responsible for any actions that that thing takes while driving your browser.
• 0:27
  Robin Joy: people ask me if I would let an agent write its own documentation, and h- you know, this is an easy one for me.
• 0:36
  Robin Joy: You go back to w- an employee.
• 0:38
  Brian Olson: Amazon's own plug-in page says this in writing.
• 0:41
  Robin Joy: Okay.
• 0:42
  Brian Olson: You are responsible for all actions taken by the agent.
• 0:46
  Robin Joy: So I still say based on what?
• 0:48
  Robin Joy: I kind of, kind of want to question that.
• 0:52
  Robin Joy: When you're, when you're using AI to do tasks for you-
• 0:56
  Brian Olson: Mm-hmm
• 0:56
  Robin Joy: ... give them the valet key.
• 0:57
  Robin Joy: Don't give them the, all the keys to the kingdom.
• 1:00
  Brian Olson: there is a rule from Bill Gates that nobody really likes when they're excited about a new tool.
• 1:09
  Brian and Robin Joy: We've all been there, right?
• 1:10
  Brian and Robin Joy: Yeah.
• 1:10
  Brian and Robin Joy: Ask me how I know.
• 1:11
  Brian and Robin Joy: Ask me how I know.
• 1:12
  Brian and Robin Joy: I stack the deck in your favor.
• 1:13
  Brian and Robin Joy: This, stack the deck in your favor.
• 1:14
  Brian and Robin Joy: Yeah.
• 1:14
  Brian and Robin Joy: That's what you say.
• 1:14
  Brian and Robin Joy: Uh-huh.
• 1:14
  Brian and Robin Joy: What can cure that?
• 1:15
  Brian and Robin Joy: That's right.
• 1:16
  Brian and Robin Joy: We kind of turn it upside down.
• 1:17
  Brian and Robin Joy: We turn it upside down.
• 1:17
  Brian and Robin Joy: I love turning it upside down.
• 1:18
  Brian and Robin Joy: I know.
• 1:18
  Brian and Robin Joy: You know what cures that?
• 1:19
  Brian and Robin Joy: Ask me how I know.
• 1:20
  Brian and Robin Joy: Amazon is a logistics company.
• 1:22
  Brian and Robin Joy: Test more ASINs.
• 1:23
  Brian and Robin Joy: Go test more ASINs.
• 1:24
  Brian and Robin Joy: Test more ASINs.
• 1:24
  Brian and Robin Joy: Test more ASINs.
• 1:26
  Brian and Robin Joy: Right.
• 1:26
  Brian and Robin Joy: Test more ASINs.
• 1:26
  Brian and Robin Joy: I gotcha.
• 1:27
  Brian and Robin Joy: Let's go test more ASINs. Let's go test more ASINs.
• 1:28
  Brian and Robin Joy: See you soon.
• 1:28
  Brian and Robin Joy: See you soon.
• 1:30
  Brian Olson: Welcome back to the Modern Builders Network.
• 1:31
  Brian Olson: We are the Official Olsons.
• 1:33
  Brian Olson: I'm Brian.
• 1:33
  Robin Joy: And I'm Robin Joy.
• 1:34
  Brian Olson: And this is the New Era Reseller.
• 1:37
  Brian Olson: Robin just got the hiccups, just so you know.
• 1:39
  Robin Joy: I'm
• 1:41
  Brian Olson: sorry.
• 1:42
  Brian Olson: we actually had some company this weekend.
• 1:44
  Robin Joy: He was... We did.
• 1:45
  Brian Olson: Yep.
• 1:45
  Robin Joy: It, it was fun.
• 1:46
  Brian Olson: our son Matt was in town.
• 1:47
  Brian Olson: you got him, like you, you got two tickets to this special concert, and you guys went the night of his, celebrated birthday.
• 1:55
  Robin Joy: Yeah, his birthday was a, a-
• 1:56
  Brian Olson: A few- ... couple
• 1:57
  Robin Joy: weeks ago,
• 1:57
  Brian Olson: but- ... couple weeks before, yeah.
• 1:58
  Robin Joy: Yep.
• 1:59
  Brian Olson: This was when- This was his
• 1:59
  Robin Joy: gift
• 2:00
  Brian Olson: ... the concert was.
• 2:00
  Brian Olson: Yeah, but we actually did some things around that too.
• 2:03
  Brian Olson: went to dinner the night before- Mm-hmm at this cool little place that's just down the street.
• 2:07
  Brian Olson: I can't believe we've never
• 2:08
  Robin Joy: been there before.
• 2:08
  Robin Joy: I can't believe we didn't know, yeah.
• 2:09
  Brian Olson: And,
• 2:10
  Robin Joy: Really good,
• 2:11
  Brian Olson: Cuban
• 2:11
  Robin Joy: ... Cuban food.
• 2:12
  Robin Joy: Yep.
• 2:12
  Robin Joy: Yes.
• 2:13
  Brian Olson: Yep.
• 2:13
  Brian Olson: And, now that we know it's, like, two and a half blocks away, we're gonna go there more frequently.
• 2:16
  Brian Olson: Yeah,
• 2:16
  Robin Joy: we're gonna go there more often.
• 2:17
  Robin Joy: For sure.
• 2:18
  Brian Olson: It's it's like one of those deals, like an old house that's turned into a-
• 2:21
  Robin Joy: Uh-huh
• 2:21
  Brian Olson: ... in, into a, a restaurant.
• 2:23
  Brian Olson: Um, local.
• 2:25
  Robin Joy: Yeah.
• 2:25
  Brian Olson: The very fir- like, there are a few of them in, in and around the state, but it started right there at that location, which is
• 2:30
  Robin Joy: awesome.
• 2:30
  Robin Joy: That's always kind of cool.
• 2:32
  Robin Joy: Yeah.
• 2:32
  Robin Joy: Yeah.
• 2:32
  Brian Olson: anyway, and then the next morning, I think, for me, was kind of the best part because we got up the next morning, and we just started geeking out on stuff.
• 2:39
  Robin Joy: Yeah.
• 2:40
  Robin Joy: It was kind of fun.
• 2:41
  Brian Olson: His stuff.
• 2:41
  Brian Olson: He was geeking out- Yep ... on his stuff.
• 2:43
  Brian Olson: our stuff.
• 2:43
  Robin Joy: Yes.
• 2:44
  Brian Olson: 'cause we've, we've got a new thing coming.
• 2:47
  Brian Olson: And then on Robin's stuff specifically, and it was clear when we finished the conversation that he came from us.
• 2:53
  Brian Olson: Like-
• 2:53
  Robin Joy: Yeah.
• 2:54
  Brian Olson: ... he's my stepson.
• 2:55
  Brian Olson: Yes.
• 2:55
  Brian Olson: But he did grow up with me,
• 2:56
  Robin Joy: He, he's a nerd just like we are.
• 2:58
  Robin Joy: And he's, his whole family, like he- Uh-huh ... married a nerd.
• 3:01
  Robin Joy: His kids are nerds.
• 3:02
  Robin Joy: Yeah.
• 3:03
  Robin Joy: We're, we're, we're all just a bunch of nerds.
• 3:04
  Robin Joy: Yes,
• 3:04
  Brian Olson: we're just
• 3:05
  Robin Joy: big- And it was kind of fun to have that, you know, uh, Matt away from his family.
• 3:10
  Robin Joy: We usually, he's with his family- Uh-huh ... and that we all love them all and, and-
• 3:14
  Brian Olson: Mm-hmm
• 3:14
  Robin Joy: ... love spending time.
• 3:15
  Robin Joy: But it was nice to, to have some- It was- ... just Matt time.
• 3:17
  Brian Olson: It was like a throwback to-
• 3:18
  Robin Joy: Yes
• 3:18
  Brian Olson: to the old days.
• 3:19
  Robin Joy: When he was young before- Uh-huh ... yeah, when he was still s- Yeah ... still, under parents' care.
• 3:25
  Brian Olson: Yep.
• 3:26
  Robin Joy: Yeah.
• 3:27
  Brian Olson: and you've been geeking out too with s- with some of your knitting.
• 3:30
  Brian Olson: It's that time of year.
• 3:31
  Robin Joy: It is.
• 3:32
  Robin Joy: Tell me
• 3:32
  Brian Olson: about
• 3:33
  Robin Joy: that.
• 3:33
  Robin Joy: Always this time of year.
• 3:34
  Robin Joy: Well, I really like to just touch, some of my extended family, my great nieces and nephews, to be specific.
• 3:45
  Robin Joy: I try to knit something for, some small little thing, an ornament or a, a, gift card holder.
• 3:52
  Robin Joy: Usually somehow it becomes a gift card holder- Yeah ... 'cause, 'cause you give them a, an Amazon gift card.
• 3:57
  Robin Joy: So I make something to hold that, and it's just to have something handmade for them that I do every year.
• 4:04
  Robin Joy: I'm sure they're like, "Oh, it's Aunt Bobby's thing again," you know?
• 4:08
  Robin Joy: Yeah.
• 4:08
  Robin Joy: And they roll their eyes, but-
• 4:09
  Brian Olson: Aunt Bobby the Great, by the way.
• 4:11
  Robin Joy: Aunt Bob... They call me Aunt Bobby the Great, yes.
• 4:13
  Brian Olson: So because she's a great aunt.
• 4:15
  Robin Joy: I just become a g- great, great aunt- That's
• 4:17
  Brian Olson: right
• 4:18
  Robin Joy: ... last week, The greatest
• 4:19
  Brian Olson: aunt?
• 4:19
  Robin Joy: That, that's what- That's what my niece said.
• 4:22
  Robin Joy: They're gonna- Yeah ... call me the greatest.
• 4:23
  Robin Joy: That's, I'm just- Yeah ... it just makes me blush.
• 4:27
  Robin Joy: I'm so excited about that.
• 4:28
  Robin Joy: But, anyway, the gift that I was making this year, I always try to make something different and unique, and so I came up with this idea of this little... It, it ended up being like a little gnome with his, you know, hat fallin' down, and he, he, he's in the, you know, the footy pajamas that have the, I call it the butt flap, but, I was telling... I was having Cha- ChatGPT help me with the pattern- Okay ... that I had created, and he said that should be a, A f- not a butt flap.
• 5:04
  Robin Joy: What did he call it?
• 5:05
  Robin Joy: A drop drawer.
• 5:06
  Robin Joy: Drop drawer.
• 5:07
  Robin Joy: That's what it's supposed to be called.
• 5:07
  Robin Joy: Okay.
• 5:08
  Robin Joy: Okay Okay.
• 5:08
  Robin Joy: Drop ... he was correcting me.
• 5:09
  Robin Joy: But it was a really cool experience because I was, like, talking as I was, knitting.
• 5:16
  Robin Joy: I was... I had to make two legs, and I made one that I, that I wanted to match the other one, so I had to say what I was doing on a recording as I was doing it so the next one would match and I could repeat it.
• 5:27
  Brian Olson: So
• 5:28
  Robin Joy: then I fed that recording to ChatGPT, and he wrote the pattern for me so I could repeat it, and I just had a really good experience with ChatGPT helping me with that.
• 5:38
  Robin Joy: Ended up being something that, he made a rendering of.
• 5:42
  Robin Joy: He even made a sales page so I could sell the thing.
• 5:45
  Robin Joy: Gave me some really, really cool ideas.
• 5:47
  Robin Joy: Yeah ... that's what I was ner- nerding out on.
• 5:49
  Robin Joy: Yeah.
• 5:50
  Robin Joy: You- Knitting nerd
• 5:50
  Brian Olson: ... it even seemed like a big, level up, 'cause I remember you showing me while I was sitting there.
• 5:54
  Brian Olson: I was like, "Holy smokes, this looks way better than the stuff we were getting out of ChatGPT- Oh, yeah ... a year ago."
• 5:59
  Robin Joy: Really.
• 6:00
  Brian Olson: Maybe even six months ago.
• 6:01
  Brian Olson: Like, things... I, I just keep discovering... And this is gonna be an episode about AI and how we can apply it to your business, if you haven't figured that out.
• 6:10
  Brian Olson: But, how much more frequently I'm asking, instead of a- a AI agent pushing back on me and telling me to do something, I'm like, "Can you do that?" Yeah.
• 6:19
  Brian Olson: And usually they'll go, "Oh yeah, I can do that for you," and then they go and do it.
• 6:22
  Robin Joy: Yeah.
• 6:23
  Brian Olson: But if you don't ask...
• 6:24
  Robin Joy: Right.
• 6:25
  Robin Joy: I mean, yeah, and then j- I think it's a good idea also to say, you know, "Can you do this for me?
• 6:30
  Robin Joy: Tell me what you would do to- Sure ... accomplish this for me" Yeah ... and then me approve the plan.
• 6:35
  Robin Joy: But seriously, with knitting it has come a long, long way because not too long ago I would say, "Okay, here's the pattern that I've created," and they could do pretty good with, any of them could do pretty good with putting it into a standard pattern, you know- Mm-hmm the way print patterns are written.
• 6:53
  Robin Joy: But they, the thing that they can do now is, is show a rendering of what that would create, and that has never been something that-
• 7:03
  Brian Olson: A next-level version.
• 7:04
  Brian Olson: Yeah Like, it, it looks-
• 7:05
  Robin Joy: Really looks exactly like the pattern ... 100% legit.
• 7:08
  Brian Olson: Yeah.
• 7:08
  Robin Joy: Yeah, it's, it's really come a long way.
• 7:10
  Robin Joy: So if anybody's interested in using AI to make knitting patterns, feel free to get on our, advisory session with me, and I'll be happy to go that, over that with
• 7:19
  Brian Olson: you.
• 7:19
  Brian Olson: A- and then you were talking about, well, I should just sell this on Etsy.
• 7:21
  Brian Olson: And then a whole- Uh-huh ... slew of ideas came behind that, It's like once we start... You might be an entrepreneur if-
• 7:27
  Robin Joy: I know, right?
• 7:28
  Brian Olson: ... one little thing turns into this massive Fortune 100 business idea.
• 7:32
  Robin Joy: yeah.
• 7:32
  Robin Joy: Yeah.
• 7:34
  Robin Joy: 'Cause then if that's good, then we could do one for Christmas, and one for Easter, and one for-
• 7:39
  Brian Olson: That's right
• 7:40
  Robin Joy: ... all, all the holidays.
• 7:41
  Robin Joy: And then, oh, we could also do knitting, and we also could do- Crochet crochet.
• 7:46
  Robin Joy: We could do quilting.
• 7:47
  Robin Joy: We- And then it became about the character, and I, I'm just on a whole nother path today.
• 7:52
  Robin Joy: Yeah,
• 7:53
  Brian Olson: yeah.
• 7:53
  Robin Joy: But I still have to get the ones done for the, the great nieces and nephews-
• 7:57
  Brian Olson: That's right
• 7:57
  Robin Joy: ... first.
• 7:58
  Brian Olson: Yep, job number one.
• 7:59
  Robin Joy: Job number one, the most important ones.
• 8:01
  Brian Olson: Yeah.
• 8:01
  Robin Joy: Okay.
• 8:02
  Robin Joy: what came up with AI for you this week?
• 8:04
  Brian Olson: Oh,
• 8:05
  Robin Joy: I'm taking all the time.
• 8:05
  Brian Olson: ... s- something is always coming up, but- I
• 8:07
  Robin Joy: know.
• 8:08
  Robin Joy: You've got a list, always.
• 8:09
  Brian Olson: There are a number of people, um, in the space who are sort of casting doubt and maybe even a little fear on using agents to help you with your business.
• 8:19
  Brian Olson: And like, oh, well, you don't wanna use agents because it's unclear how that's gonna land, or we don't know how it's gonna play out, or whatever.
• 8:26
  Robin Joy: And- Amazon says you can't.
• 8:28
  Robin Joy: Amazon says- It,
• 8:29
  Brian Olson: yeah
• 8:29
  Robin Joy: ... yeah.
• 8:29
  Brian Olson: A- and it-
• 8:30
  Robin Joy: Not true
• 8:31
  Brian Olson: ... I went and pulled up the actual rule, which is section-
• 8:34
  Robin Joy: Oh, you actually, actually read- Yeah, yeah ... you went in to see what it says instead of listening to all the hype of-
• 8:39
  Brian Olson: this is-
• 8:39
  Robin Joy: ... what people are saying.
• 8:40
  Brian Olson: Don't forget, like you virtually sign the BSA or- Yes or a seller agreement when you, open your account.
• 8:48
  Robin Joy: And- If it's Amazon, yes.
• 8:49
  Brian Olson: Yep.
• 8:49
  Brian Olson: and it's Section 19 in that, and it's absolutely not unclear.
• 8:54
  Brian Olson: It's not unclear at all, actually.
• 8:56
  Robin Joy: Yeah, they made it pretty darn clear.
• 8:58
  Brian Olson: In March, on March 4th of this year, Amazon added Section 19, which is quote, "Use of agents"-
• 9:04
  Robin Joy: Mm-hmm
• 9:04
  Brian Olson: to the Business Solutions Agreement.
• 9:07
  Brian Olson: I called it the Seller Agreement, but Business Solutions Agreement.
• 9:10
  Robin Joy: Okay.
• 9:10
  Brian Olson: that's the agreement that every one of us has virtually signed when we agreed to resell on Amazon, And then an agent is any software that takes autonomous or semi-autonomous action for you.
• 9:24
  Robin Joy: Okay.
• 9:24
  Brian Olson: It, it doesn't say AI anywhere in the description.
• 9:27
  Robin Joy: Okay.
• 9:28
  Brian Olson: Okay?
• 9:28
  Brian Olson: They're giving their own definition, in fact, of what an agent is.
• 9:31
  Robin Joy: I guess that's good, so we know exactly what they're talking about- But- ... when they say agent
• 9:35
  Brian Olson: ... it, it's just one of those things.
• 9:37
  Brian Olson: I'm always like, "Well, I mean, is that really the definition- It- of an agent?" But it is their playground, so I have to play- Yeah ... by their rules, and that's just right.
• 9:43
  Brian Olson: basically a plain old Chrome extension counts as an agent.
• 9:49
  Robin Joy: Wait- my extensions are ag- how does, how does that work?
• 9:54
  Brian Olson: Your Chrome extensions or the extensions that run in a, e- extension-enabled browser that are doing things for you,
• 10:02
  Robin Joy: Oh
• 10:03
  Brian Olson: in, you know, as, as a, as a shopping agent or as a m- administrative agent for your Seller Central are considered agents.
• 10:13
  Robin Joy: when I do my research, and I use an extension a- and I'm acting as a shopper, but I'm having-
• 10:20
  Brian Olson: Anytime it's querying Amazon.
• 10:22
  Robin Joy: Okay.
• 10:23
  Robin Joy: Okay?
• 10:23
  Robin Joy: All right.
• 10:23
  Robin Joy: Yeah.
• 10:23
  Robin Joy: All right.
• 10:24
  Brian Olson: And so does
• 10:24
  Robin Joy: that mean I can't use them?
• 10:26
  Brian Olson: I- if this is let's ta- let's keep it cordoned off here to Seller Central, okay?
• 10:30
  Robin Joy: Okay.
• 10:31
  Brian Olson: So if you're going to go use an extension in Seller Central, no, it doesn't mean you can't use them.
• 10:36
  Brian Olson: It just means you need to identify yourself-
• 10:38
  Robin Joy: Ah
• 10:38
  Brian Olson: ... as an agent.
• 10:39
  Brian Olson: Okay.
• 10:40
  Brian Olson: You, yeah, identify yourself- Your agent needs to ... as an agent.
• 10:42
  Brian Olson: Your agent needs to identify itself as an agent on every request that it makes.
• 10:46
  Brian Olson: And this is super simple to do, to bake into your extension.
• 10:49
  Brian Olson: You just put a slash, or agent slash whatever the name of the thing is.
• 10:53
  Brian Olson: So for Profit Zones, it says agent/profitzones.
• 10:57
  Brian Olson: If you're using, Gatekeep, it says agent/gatekeep.
• 11:01
  Brian Olson: So it's identifying itself every single time it's making a request.
• 11:05
  Brian Olson: and, you have to, you being the agent, has to answer honestly if Amazon ever pushes back and says, "Hold on.
• 11:12
  Brian Olson: Are you an agent?
• 11:13
  Brian Olson: Are you a bot?" It has to answer honestly and say, "Yes." Yeah.
• 11:17
  Robin Joy: Can't pretend not to be.
• 11:18
  Brian Olson: And it can't do anything to get around what Amazon may be putting in place to limit or prohibit your access with that agent.
• 11:28
  Robin Joy: Right.
• 11:29
  Brian Olson: Okay?
• 11:29
  Brian Olson: That would be breaking the rules.
• 11:32
  Robin Joy: That's true.
• 11:33
  Robin Joy: And w- and we wrote an article that just, just, We did ... it's ... Oh, I guess it's c- coming out.
• 11:37
  Robin Joy: It will be out by the time this,
• 11:38
  Brian Olson: It's out.
• 11:39
  Brian Olson: It's already out.
• 11:39
  Brian Olson: Is it out?
• 11:40
  Brian Olson: Okay.
• 11:40
  Brian Olson: It's called The Three Doors into Amazon, and, that's what we're gonna, I'm gonna unpack here for the next couple minutes.
• 11:45
  Robin Joy: When you pick up your kids from school, it's no problem.
• 11:48
  Robin Joy: You show your ID because you are you.
• 11:50
  Robin Joy: You are the parent, and you can-
• 11:51
  Brian Olson: Mm-hmm
• 11:51
  Robin Joy: ... pick up your kids.
• 11:52
  Robin Joy: But if you send somebody else to pick up your kids because you're tied up or you're, you know, whatever the situation may be, happens all the time I'm sure, then you have to ahead of time let them know who this is that's gonna come pick y- ki- pick up your kid, and they have to show their ID that they are the person that's been authorized.
• 12:13
  Robin Joy: They can't... You can't give them your ID and have them pretend to be you.
• 12:17
  Robin Joy: That's not gonna work.
• 12:18
  Robin Joy: And, you know, that's not the honest way to do it.
• 12:21
  Robin Joy: And you can't... You have to authorize them to be able to pick up your kids.
• 12:26
  Robin Joy: So same sort of thing with this.
• 12:28
  Robin Joy: When you go to Amazon as an agent, and you use s- an agent to do that for you, you just gotta tell Amazon, "Yeah, I said it was okay for this guy to do something on my behalf.
• 12:39
  Robin Joy: He's announcing, himself.
• 12:41
  Robin Joy: I am the babysitter or the grandparent or whomever picking up the kid," and then that everything's fine.
• 12:49
  Brian Olson: And I, I've got a good analogy for that, when we get towards the end- Okay ... of this podcast.
• 12:53
  Brian Olson: back on script.
• 12:56
  Robin Joy: Oh, did I do that?
• 12:58
  Brian Olson: There are basically three ways into Amazon Seller, to access your seller information- Okay your seller account.
• 13:06
  Brian Olson: Okay?
• 13:06
  Brian Olson: The f- the primary way in, the easiest way in is, behind the wall.
• 13:12
  Brian Olson: I have- just have a vision of this brick wall, and it's known as the API, the SP API.
• 13:19
  Brian Olson: Okay.
• 13:20
  Brian Olson: Okay?
• 13:20
  Brian Olson: and this is what all of your third-party tools that you're- that you probably have logged in, you know, set up in your account are using.
• 13:28
  Brian Olson: And that API channel is made for this.
• 13:32
  Brian Olson: It doesn't need to identify itself as an agent.
• 13:34
  Brian Olson: It's assumed.
• 13:35
  Robin Joy: Everything in there is an agent.
• 13:36
  Robin Joy: It's,
• 13:36
  Brian Olson: it's programmatic, systematic, hydromatic.
• 13:41
  Brian Olson: that's, that's the easiest way in, and it gives you probably the most, reasonable level of access.
• 13:47
  Brian Olson: But you have to authorize them.
• 13:49
  Brian Olson: And like I said, they're ... You don't have to- they don't have to identify themselves as an agent.
• 13:53
  Robin Joy: They've already- Okay?
• 13:54
  Robin Joy: Yeah, they're already known as an agent if they're going through that way.
• 13:56
  Brian Olson: Now, door two into that same area is an extension that is actually riding on your Seller Central login cookie, Your Seller Central- Okay ... cookie.
• 14:06
  Robin Joy: Say more about that.
• 14:07
  Brian Olson: So these are the ones that can identify themselves as agents, like Path Profit Zones, like Gatekeep.
• 14:12
  Brian Olson: Like any other on-page extension you're using right now, I don't care if they also have an API.
• 14:17
  Brian Olson: If it's using an on-page extension to, a Chrome extension-
• 14:22
  Robin Joy: Like the Chrome
• 14:22
  Brian Olson: extension that Chrome extension, by the rules, needs to be identifying itself-
• 14:26
  Robin Joy: Okay
• 14:26
  Brian Olson: ... as an agent.
• 14:27
  Brian Olson: Okay?
• 14:28
  Robin Joy: Okay.
• 14:28
  Brian Olson: Since March.
• 14:29
  Brian Olson: That, th- that, That's a requirement ... policy was, po- announced in March.
• 14:32
  Robin Joy: Okay.
• 14:33
  Brian Olson: So Profit Zones identifies itself.
• 14:35
  Brian Olson: like I said, Gatekeep identifies itself.
• 14:37
  Brian Olson: So ask your vendors about the other extensions that you're using.
• 14:41
  Brian Olson: I was just gonna say-
• 14:41
  Robin Joy: ... how do we know if they are or not?
• 14:43
  Brian Olson: They ... We need to give them ... Y- you need to ask them.
• 14:46
  Robin Joy: Need to ask them.
• 14:47
  Brian Olson: Yeah.
• 14:47
  Robin Joy: Yeah.
• 14:47
  Brian Olson: Okay?
• 14:48
  Robin Joy: Okay.
• 14:48
  Robin Joy: And wh- And th- I think you're gonna tell us why we need to ask them, It's not... What if they're not?
• 14:54
  Robin Joy: Then they get in trouble?
• 14:56
  Brian Olson: Good question, because, Profit Zones ran for a while without identifying itself as an agent and it never was a problem.
• 15:04
  Robin Joy: No, I mean, why do we need to make sure they're announcing themselves?
• 15:08
  Brian Olson: Oh, yeah.
• 15:08
  Brian Olson: I'm gonna cover that later.
• 15:09
  Robin Joy: Okay.
• 15:10
  Brian Olson: All right.
• 15:10
  Brian Olson: Now three door- behind door number three- ... this is the consumer side.
• 15:17
  Brian Olson: So this is, like, AI driving your browser.
• 15:21
  Brian Olson: Okay.
• 15:21
  Brian Olson: I think about here, like, the Chrome, Claude for Chrome.
• 15:25
  Brian Olson: ChatGPT Computer.
• 15:27
  Brian Olson: Grok in its own computer.
• 15:29
  Brian Olson: Claude Desktop, that can take over your browser.
• 15:32
  Brian Olson: Claude Code can also take over your browser.
• 15:34
  Robin Joy: Yep.
• 15:34
  Brian Olson: So the way that those w- tools are working, or those agents are working, they're taking over a browser which is driven by a human, so they look like a human accessing the site, and that's where for me there's a little bit of a gray area.
• 15:49
  Brian Olson: Okay.
• 15:49
  Brian Olson: Because, but theoretically I'm there, I'm still there in the passenger seat or, you know- Mm-hmm ... I, I, I've given authorization 'cause I gave them access to my browser and I'm watching the activity that's going on, okay?
• 16:00
  Brian Olson: They're like, clicking around for you.
• 16:03
  Brian Olson: Okay.
• 16:03
  Brian Olson: Okay?
• 16:03
  Brian Olson: But they have not identified themselves as an agent 'cause there's no way to do it that.
• 16:08
  Brian Olson: Like, there's no programmatic way to say, "I'm an agent." It's just driving the browser.
• 16:13
  Robin Joy: And, and so we're talking about as it applies to seller, to, Amazon.
• 16:16
  Brian Olson: Yeah.
• 16:17
  Robin Joy: Okay?
• 16:18
  Brian Olson: Yeah.
• 16:18
  Brian Olson: And to Seller Central, same thing.
• 16:20
  Robin Joy: Yeah.
• 16:20
  Brian Olson: Like-
• 16:20
  Robin Joy: as opposed to, i, I mean, I've used my browser for many, many things.
• 16:24
  Robin Joy: We're talking about Amazon
• 16:25
  Brian Olson: here.
• 16:25
  Brian Olson: Yeah.
• 16:26
  Robin Joy: Okay.
• 16:26
  Brian Olson: So for instance, I ran into a listing issue the other day, and I was in, Seller Central, and I was so frustrated by this thing where I kept adding this inventory, this item to inventory, and it kept not getting added.
• 16:37
  Brian Olson: And I was not getting any error messages, and it says, "Yep, congratulations," and then, you know, 15 minutes later it would show up as an unfinished draft.
• 16:44
  Brian Olson: And I'm like, "Okay," and then it, it was so confused.
• 16:47
  Brian Olson: I'm like, "You know what? I'm gonna see if Claude can do the flat file upload and g- you know, solve this problem for me." And we actually came... I fou- I learned a whole bunch through that process.
• 16:56
  Brian Olson: Oh, yeah?
• 16:57
  Brian Olson: That the, the problem was with the listing itself.
• 17:00
  Brian Olson: It was made incorrectly, i- intentionally or not.
• 17:03
  Brian Olson: It didn't have the right UPC code, and when the brand doesn't match the, the, the brand on the listing doesn't match the UPC, the prefix that GS1 gives to that brand- Mm-hmm then Amazon flags it.
• 17:15
  Brian Olson: They haven't, obviously, removed this listing yet.
• 17:17
  Brian Olson: It's still out there, and there are people on it, but I can't get on it.
• 17:20
  Robin Joy: So it's obviously something's wrong with it.
• 17:23
  Brian Olson: Some- yeah.
• 17:23
  Brian Olson: And so they're trying, they're, they're eliminating the spread of these kinds of funky listings.
• 17:29
  Robin Joy: I, I, I would say this is a little bit beside the point, but- It
• 17:32
  Brian Olson: is,
• 17:33
  Robin Joy: yeah ... that makes me, th- but it does make- remind me that sometimes when it, a listing is giving you trouble-
• 17:39
  Brian Olson: Mm-hmm
• 17:40
  Robin Joy: ... sometimes there's a reason for that.
• 17:41
  Robin Joy: There, yeah.
• 17:41
  Robin Joy: You need to listen to that- Yeah ... because there might be something bigger going on than you realize.
• 17:45
  Brian Olson: Totally agree.
• 17:47
  Robin Joy: but-
• 17:47
  Brian Olson: Okay ... hold on.
• 17:47
  Brian Olson: So then what happens is it looks like a human driving your browser because that's how these tools work.
• 17:52
  Brian Olson: Okay.
• 17:52
  Brian Olson: They just take over your browser.
• 17:53
  Brian Olson: Okay?
• 17:54
  Brian Olson: None of the big ones send that agent tag today, that way there's no mechanism to enable that to happen.
• 18:00
  Brian Olson: And here's the important part, okay?
• 18:02
  Brian Olson: The AI company that you're using, Gemini, Grok, Claude, ChatGPT, whatever it is, they didn't sign your agreement.
• 18:10
  Brian Olson: You did, and you are still responsible for any actions that that thing takes while driving your browser.
• 18:17
  Brian Olson: Very similarly to the insurance on your vehicle, probably if you're lent it to somebody to go drive- Mm-hmm and they get into an accident.
• 18:24
  Robin Joy: Yeah.
• 18:25
  Robin Joy: Then your insurance is what gets-
• 18:28
  Brian Olson: Exactly
• 18:29
  Robin Joy: ... used there.
• 18:30
  Brian Olson: Yeah.
• 18:30
  Robin Joy: S- let's use a prep center as an example.
• 18:33
  Robin Joy: Yes.
• 18:33
  Robin Joy: I use- I tell people this all the time.
• 18:34
  Robin Joy: As a prep center, you can use a prep center, and they can do your tasks for you.
• 18:38
  Robin Joy: But if they do something wrong- Yep ... and they send out in the wrong item on the wrong ASIN- Mm-hmm or they mislabel something or whatever the case may be, Amazon sees that as if you did it.
• 18:48
  Brian Olson: It's still you.
• 18:49
  Brian Olson: Yeah.
• 18:49
  Robin Joy: It's still you.
• 18:50
  Robin Joy: Yeah.
• 18:50
  Robin Joy: You're responsible.
• 18:50
  Robin Joy: It's your account.
• 18:51
  Robin Joy: You've given them access to do things on your account.
• 18:54
  Robin Joy: And that's in the case of a prep center where, where there are humans doing it W- when it's agents, it's, it's no different,
• 19:01
  Brian Olson: Yeah.
• 19:01
  Brian Olson: That's correct.
• 19:01
  Brian Olson: Yeah.
• 19:01
  Robin Joy: Okay, has anybody actually been shut down for this?
• 19:04
  Brian Olson: I couldn't find any instance, credible or otherwise, of anyone getting shut down, let alone even get a w- getting a warning for using- Mm-hmm ... this.
• 19:13
  Brian Olson: I think- and, and I think Amazon's just making a lane for it-
• 19:16
  Robin Joy: Mm-hmm
• 19:17
  Brian Olson: ... so that if they ever decide that they wanna throttle that sort of activity- Mm-hmm or disable that sort of activity, at least from the, extension
• 19:24
  Robin Joy: side- They just, they know where it is
• 19:24
  Brian Olson: ... they, like people who, the things that are identifying themselves as an agent, they can, they can control a little better.
• 19:30
  Robin Joy: Yeah, I'm glad you said that because there seems to be a lot of fear around it.
• 19:33
  Robin Joy: "Oh,
• 19:34
  Brian Olson: I heard you- Yeah, I know
• 19:35
  Robin Joy: ... I heard you can't use agents.
• 19:37
  Robin Joy: I heard you can't do anything agentic." And, that's not, that's just not, simply not true.
• 19:42
  Brian Olson: if AI is just reading a report that you could pull for yourself from Seller Central, whatever, to me, that's
• 19:48
  Robin Joy: r- Oh, that's
• 19:49
  Brian Olson: outside ... really low risk,
• 19:50
  Robin Joy: That's outside of ... It's not doing anything in Seller Central.
• 19:53
  Brian Olson: Right.
• 19:53
  Brian Olson: It's just, like well- You, you- ... it's requesting a report in Seller Central- Oh, oh, if, if the agent was asking.
• 19:57
  Brian Olson: Okay ... maybe your inventory ledger or something like that,
• 19:59
  Robin Joy: Okay.
• 20:00
  Brian Olson: But- but if it's changing prices and adding listings and applying for approvals, that's different.
• 20:07
  Brian Olson: At machine speed- Oh, I see ... especially, like bang, bang, bang, bang, bang.
• 20:09
  Robin Joy: Yeah.
• 20:10
  Brian Olson: As it is, Amazon limits the amount of requests that you can send per second.
• 20:14
  Brian Olson: Okay.
• 20:14
  Brian Olson: And so whether you're, using the SP-API version or you're using a Chrome extension identified as an agent or just driving the browser, like a human would, they limit the amount.
• 20:24
  Brian Olson: Like they have to do this.
• 20:26
  Brian Olson: Any, any company that's run, runs a website has some way so they don't get this denial-of-service attack, basically.
• 20:32
  Brian Olson: Yeah.
• 20:32
  Brian Olson: Which I'm not gonna get into today, but-
• 20:34
  Robin Joy: Yeah, that's a whole ... E- but that's part of it.
• 20:36
  Brian Olson: Yeah.
• 20:37
  Robin Joy: But I see the difference now.
• 20:38
  Robin Joy: Reading, requesting a report-
• 20:41
  Brian Olson: Mm-hmm
• 20:41
  Robin Joy: doesn't change anything.
• 20:43
  Robin Joy: It doesn't affect anything.
• 20:44
  Robin Joy: But asking for approval- Approval ... or changing a price, that actually is something that- Making
• 20:51
  Brian Olson: a change in your account-
• 20:52
  Robin Joy: Yeah
• 20:52
  Brian Olson: ... potentially.
• 20:53
  Robin Joy: Yeah.
• 20:53
  Brian Olson: Yeah.
• 20:53
  Robin Joy: Okay.
• 20:54
  Robin Joy: I see the difference.
• 20:54
  Robin Joy: Okay.
• 20:55
  Brian Olson: and if it's solving some, like, CAPTCHA for you, like hold this button down for 10 seconds- Oh,
• 21:01
  Robin Joy: yeah
• 21:02
  Brian Olson: or pick all the images- That's like trying to get around it ... that, where there's a traffic light or something, whatever.
• 21:05
  Brian Olson: Yeah.
• 21:06
  Brian Olson: That is, there's no gray area there.
• 21:08
  Brian Olson: That is against the rules,
• 21:09
  Robin Joy: Pretty much with any software that does that-
• 21:11
  Brian Olson: Exactly
• 21:11
  Robin Joy: ... you need to be leery of,
• 21:12
  Brian Olson: That's right.
• 21:13
  Brian Olson: Yeah.
• 21:14
  Brian Olson: now go back to the very first door, which was the API.
• 21:17
  Robin Joy: Okay.
• 21:17
  Brian Olson: Behind door number one, all your, applications that you've given permission to access your account.
• 21:23
  Brian Olson: Go look at that, okay?
• 21:25
  Brian Olson: It's in the, under the gear, under application, apps and services.
• 21:28
  Brian Olson: And go to manage your apps, okay?
• 21:30
  Brian Olson: This weekend I did it, and I was of course not surprised, but still s- I'm like,"Wow, I forgot all about that tool." Been
• 21:37
  Robin Joy: a while since you've been in there, huh?
• 21:38
  Brian Olson: That, that we signed up for back in 2022-
• 21:41
  Robin Joy: Mm-hmm
• 21:42
  Brian Olson: ... and used for two months.
• 21:43
  Brian Olson: And then did I remember to turn it off before the, authorization expired?
• 21:47
  Brian Olson: I don't know.
• 21:48
  Brian Olson: The good news is Amazon does expire these things after, like, a year's worth of time or something, unless you go in and reauthorize it-
• 21:54
  Robin Joy: Uh-huh
• 21:55
  Brian Olson: for a longer period.
• 21:56
  Brian Olson: some things I found in our account, Helium 10 that I used, last used two and a half years ago.
• 22:01
  Brian Olson: A repricer that we turned off two years ago, and another one from four years ago.
• 22:05
  Robin Joy: Ah.
• 22:05
  Brian Olson: We've been through our fair, fair share of repricers, a sourcing-
• 22:08
  Robin Joy: And haven't been happy with any of them.
• 22:09
  Robin Joy: Yeah.
• 22:10
  Brian Olson: Till we built our own.
• 22:11
  Robin Joy: Yeah.
• 22:12
  Brian Olson: a sourcing app, a year and a half later, a lending vendor from the last time we took a loan through the Amazon portal.
• 22:19
  Brian Olson: You know, JoeLister was one of those tools we did- Yes ... in the early days- Yes ... and we disabled that in July of '23 'cause we went a different direction.
• 22:26
  Brian Olson: Inventory recovery service.
• 22:28
  Brian Olson: Like, everyone- Oh, yeah ... back in the day- That was a
• 22:30
  Robin Joy: while back, yeah
• 22:30
  Brian Olson: ... had this.
• 22:31
  Brian Olson: Today-
• 22:32
  Robin Joy: Yeah
• 22:32
  Brian Olson: AI, you know, AI killed seller investigators.
• 22:35
  Brian Olson: Like, I'm convinced, a- and we, and ended up only using them for a few months because the results weren't what we anticipated, And they've all been disabled, and, but they still show up on the list.
• 22:45
  Brian Olson: There's no way to delete them that I know of, and this is why If you sign up for a free trial of a tool-
• 22:52
  Robin Joy: Mm-hmm
• 22:52
  Brian Olson: ... a sourcing tool, an on-page extension, or whatever, and it wants to see your account, this is how they track.
• 22:59
  Brian Olson: you can't sign up for another account 'cause we've already installed it.
• 23:01
  Brian Olson: You've already had a trial.
• 23:02
  Brian Olson: It's not like you can't go back and ask for another trial.
• 23:04
  Brian Olson: Most companies- Yeah ... will still give that to you, but they'll, they'll like, the, the mechanism, the machine mechanism is- They
• 23:11
  Robin Joy: recognize that
• 23:11
  Brian Olson: key ... they recognize you.
• 23:12
  Robin Joy: Yes.
• 23:12
  Brian Olson: Yeah.
• 23:13
  Robin Joy: Yes.
• 23:13
  Robin Joy: Even if you deleted it, they would recognize that key.
• 23:16
  Brian Olson: That's right.
• 23:16
  Robin Joy: Okay.
• 23:17
  Robin Joy: ke- this is a lesson.
• 23:18
  Robin Joy: I want everybody out there to go and look at manage your apps in your Seller Central if you have a Seller Central account, and see what's in there.
• 23:29
  Robin Joy: You might be surprised, but make sure you turn off and/or delete things that you're not losing and using anymore.
• 23:35
  Robin Joy: Make sure you're aware of what has access- Mm-hmm ... to your account because you are responsible for what, for what they do if you allow them access to your account.
• 23:43
  Brian Olson: And ask the companies behind every extension you have installed- Agreed ... if their tool is advertising itself as an agent.
• 23:50
  Brian Olson: And I don't care if they've got API access, everything that, that I've read says any extension needs to do that.
• 23:56
  Robin Joy: a lot of the tools that you're talking about have API access-
• 24:00
  Brian Olson: Mm-hmm
• 24:00
  Robin Joy: ... as well as- As an extension ... an ex- a Chrome extension.
• 24:03
  Brian Olson: Yeah.
• 24:03
  Robin Joy: Those are seen as two different things- That's correct ... at, by Amazon.
• 24:06
  Brian Olson: Yeah.
• 24:06
  Robin Joy: Okay.
• 24:06
  Brian Olson: Yeah.
• 24:07
  Robin Joy: All right.
• 24:07
  Robin Joy: Yeah.
• 24:07
  Robin Joy: Just make sure-
• 24:08
  Brian Olson: Yeah
• 24:08
  Robin Joy: ... that they are presenting themselves the way they are because you're the one responsible for it.
• 24:13
  Brian Olson: That's right.
• 24:13
  Robin Joy: Not them.
• 24:14
  Brian Olson: Yeah.
• 24:15
  Robin Joy: 'Cause you're- They're not the ones that are gonna get in trouble.
• 24:16
  Brian Olson: They didn't sign the agreement.
• 24:18
  Brian Olson: You
• 24:18
  Robin Joy: did.
• 24:18
  Robin Joy: You did.
• 24:19
  Brian Olson: Yeah.
• 24:19
  Robin Joy: Right.
• 24:20
  Robin Joy: So just make sure you've only got people in there that are doing it properly.
• 24:24
  Brian Olson: Yeah.
• 24:25
  Brian Olson: Um, all right, back on September 23rd, not that long ago, just a few weeks ago actually-
• 24:29
  Robin Joy: Mm-hmm
• 24:30
  Brian Olson: at the time of this recording, Amazon did open an official door for AI
• 24:35
  Robin Joy: Aha
• 24:36
  Brian Olson: Two doors, actually.
• 24:37
  Brian Olson: This
• 24:37
  Robin Joy: is news.
• 24:38
  Brian Olson: This is news.
• 24:38
  Brian Olson: This is,
• 24:39
  Robin Joy: yeah.
• 24:39
  Brian Olson: Um, the selling partner plugin-
• 24:42
  Robin Joy: Mm-hmm
• 24:42
  Brian Olson: ... okay, which is y- one of those things you can get through the Claude, through a, a, a Claude connector.
• 24:48
  Brian Olson: You can- Uh-huh get the, the seller- you can leverage the seller partner plugin.
• 24:52
  Brian Olson: Claude's the only one that has it, to my knowledge so far.
• 24:55
  Brian Olson: At
• 24:55
  Robin Joy: this point, yes.
• 24:56
  Brian Olson: And you can go sign up, but you're probably gonna land on the waiting list.
• 24:59
  Brian Olson: Ask me how I know.
• 25:00
  Robin Joy: Yeah, we did.
• 25:01
  Brian Olson: Right.
• 25:02
  Brian Olson: and,
• 25:02
  Robin Joy: It's in beta, Is it?
• 25:03
  Brian Olson: It is... yeah, I think it's probably in beta.
• 25:05
  Brian Olson: They're probably doing a slow rollout on it, too.
• 25:08
  Brian Olson: but this is what gets you API access through an API tool.
• 25:11
  Brian Olson: Awesome.
• 25:12
  Brian Olson: Yeah.
• 25:12
  Brian Olson: This is great.
• 25:13
  Brian Olson: This, this may, you know, help you or, at some point you may not need the SP API developer account if they open this door to more tools.
• 25:21
  Robin Joy: Okay?
• 25:22
  Robin Joy: Okay.
• 25:22
  Robin Joy: just another way- Now,
• 25:22
  Brian Olson: you're still gonna be responsible for- every bit of activity that happens there- Sure
• 25:25
  Robin Joy: Sure.
• 25:26
  Brian Olson: but then they also have this other thing called... What is it called?
• 25:30
  Brian Olson: Amazon Quick.
• 25:31
  Robin Joy: Amazon Quick.
• 25:31
  Brian Olson: In Amazon Quick, you can ask it some very simple, basic questions like-
• 25:36
  Robin Joy: Mm-hmm
• 25:37
  Brian Olson: Kind of- ... what were my sales last week?
• 25:39
  Brian Olson: Yeah.
• 25:39
  Brian Olson: Or what ASINs are about, am I about to run out of stock on?
• 25:43
  Brian Olson: It's not gonna give you some super complex answers back or, nor let you manipulate- Yeah ... at any complex level.
• 25:50
  Robin Joy: And when you compare that to one of the frontier models like, like Claude-
• 25:53
  Brian Olson: Mm-hmm
• 25:54
  Robin Joy: ... Claude can, can, if you teach it, know who you are and what you're looking for when you say, "Am I about to run out of stock?" That, that question could be answered in a thousand different ways, and Amazon Quick doesn't know you.
• 26:08
  Brian Olson: A- and I'm guessing on what the Claude connector will do.
• 26:11
  Brian Olson: Sure ... I, since I haven't seen it, I, I'm not 100% sure.
• 26:15
  Brian Olson: I'm assuming it, it is like the API level access, but I, but unverified at this point.
• 26:19
  Brian Olson: So take, take that with a grain of salt.
• 26:21
  Brian Olson: But the Amazon Quick is Amazon's own AI assistant.
• 26:26
  Brian Olson: And, if you sign up for Amazon Quick before the end of the year-
• 26:31
  Robin Joy: Mm-hmm
• 26:31
  Brian Olson: ... then you can get a whole nother year for free.
• 26:34
  Brian Olson: Otherwise, they're gonna start charging $20 a user, each month that you use the tool.
• 26:39
  Brian Olson: Just
• 26:39
  Robin Joy: to use their AI.
• 26:39
  Brian Olson: Just to use their AI tool, yeah.
• 26:41
  Robin Joy: That I can't train.
• 26:43
  Brian Olson: That, that, that you may or may not be able to train.
• 26:45
  Brian Olson: Hmm.
• 26:45
  Brian Olson: Exactly.
• 26:45
  Robin Joy: I don't know.
• 26:46
  Robin Joy: Yeah.
• 26:46
  Robin Joy: Okay.
• 26:47
  Robin Joy: Yeah.
• 26:47
  Robin Joy: I mean...
• 26:48
  Brian Olson: but here's the thing to know before you connect it.
• 26:53
  Brian Olson: Amazon-
• 26:53
  Robin Joy: Before you connect what?
• 26:54
  Brian Olson: Before you connect the Claude tool-
• 26:57
  Robin Joy: Uh-huh
• 26:58
  Brian Olson: Amazon's own plug-in page says this in writing.
• 27:02
  Robin Joy: Okay.
• 27:03
  Brian Olson: You are responsible for all actions taken by the agent.
• 27:07
  Brian Olson: Okay?
• 27:07
  Brian Olson: Yeah.
• 27:07
  Brian Olson: Your data gets processed outside of Amazon's control.
• 27:10
  Brian Olson: It's not happening on the Amazon platform.
• 27:12
  Brian Olson: And then disconnecting doesn't do- undo anything that was already done.
• 27:17
  Brian Olson: Sort of like if you ever sold, counterfeit inventory-
• 27:21
  Robin Joy: Mm-hmm
• 27:21
  Brian Olson: not, whether you knew it or not, you're still responsible for that-
• 27:24
  Robin Joy: Right
• 27:24
  Brian Olson: ... ever however many years later.
• 27:26
  Robin Joy: Even if you deleted the ASIN
• 27:27
  Brian Olson: and everything.
• 27:27
  Brian Olson: Even if you deleted the listing.
• 27:28
  Brian Olson: Yeah.
• 27:29
  Robin Joy: Right.
• 27:29
  Robin Joy: have you connected this
• 27:31
  Brian Olson: Claude?
• 27:31
  Brian Olson: I- Connected- So I tried the Claude, I'm on the waiting list, but I honestly have not been at all motivated to do Amazon quick because I already kind of know what it's going to be.
• 27:40
  Brian Olson: Yeah.
• 27:40
  Brian Olson: It's a watered-down version of what I can get with my own tools.
• 27:43
  Robin Joy: It ... And- and from what I understand, it's remade from an AD- AWS product that was never actually made- Ah ... for this, and so it's already kind of a stepchild.
• 27:53
  Robin Joy: I don't think we're gonna see a lot of, of value there, but you know, it remains to be seen.
• 27:58
  Robin Joy: We'll keep an eye out.
• 27:59
  Brian Olson: And- and the other reason, that I like my own tools better is because they're going through the an- the Seller Central SP-API.
• 28:06
  Robin Joy: Yes.
• 28:07
  Brian Olson: I've got gr- super granular level of control to- to not only read but manipulate data in there.
• 28:14
  Brian Olson: And guess what?
• 28:15
  Brian Olson: Every single reseller can get the same thing.
• 28:18
  Brian Olson: And it's not that hard.
• 28:20
  Brian Olson: It's like as if you could sign up for an Amazon account, you could sign up for the account that you need to enable the SP-API.
• 28:25
  Brian Olson: The difference is knowing what to ask for and-
• 28:29
  Robin Joy: Mm-hmm
• 28:29
  Brian Olson: ... how to build an app and stuff like that.
• 28:31
  Robin Joy: Sure.
• 28:32
  Robin Joy: Sure.
• 28:32
  Robin Joy: you're talking about your custom-built tools that you- Yes use on, on- Yeah ... our own account.
• 28:37
  Brian Olson: That's correct.
• 28:37
  Brian Olson: Yeah.
• 28:37
  Robin Joy: That, okay.
• 28:38
  Brian Olson: And I'm helping other people de- develop and deploy their own custom-built tools-
• 28:42
  Robin Joy: Okay ... in the same way.
• 28:43
  Robin Joy: So it can be very customized.
• 28:44
  Robin Joy: You don't have to use something off the shelf.
• 28:46
  Brian Olson: Oh, 100%.
• 28:47
  Brian Olson: I mean, are there any applications out there that have 99 features and you use three?
• 28:52
  Robin Joy: Yeah.
• 28:53
  Brian Olson: Yeah.
• 28:53
  Robin Joy: Yeah, I hate that.
• 28:54
  Robin Joy: I hate that.
• 28:54
  Brian Olson: Or the other way.
• 28:55
  Brian Olson: No, you- Like it does three things- Three things ... really well, but then you'd like it
• 28:58
  Robin Joy: to do a fourth.
• 28:59
  Robin Joy: But it doesn't do all the other things that you'd like to do in connection- Yeah ... with that.
• 29:01
  Brian Olson: Yeah.
• 29:02
  Robin Joy: Yeah.
• 29:02
  Brian Olson: There's like this custom fit.
• 29:03
  Brian Olson: It's like, you know, the- the clothes you buy off the shelf almost fit perfectly.
• 29:08
  Robin Joy: Almost.
• 29:08
  Brian Olson: Yeah.
• 29:09
  Robin Joy: Almost.
• 29:10
  Brian Olson: Yeah.
• 29:12
  Robin Joy: I mean, if you're, if you're built, you know, perfectly, then- Yeah ... you know, that might-
• 29:16
  Brian Olson: I
• 29:17
  Robin Joy: guess ... have a better chance.
• 29:17
  Robin Joy: But I don't- I don't know anyone who's built perfectly.
• 29:19
  Robin Joy: I don't either.
• 29:20
  Brian Olson: But you have- I mean- ... used the Seller Assistant.
• 29:22
  Robin Joy: I've used Seller Assistant.
• 29:23
  Robin Joy: Seller
• 29:23
  Brian Olson: Assistant, okay.
• 29:24
  Robin Joy: Yeah, this is the one where when you're in Seller Central Can we have any more things called- Seller.
• 29:30
  Robin Joy: Hmm ... You're in Seller Central, you've got a little search box up at the top where you can find answers to some of your questions by Amazon.
• 29:38
  Robin Joy: They've got all kinds of help articles and different places you can get answers just to your questions.
• 29:45
  Robin Joy: This has historically just been a search, like a Boolean search where it, it, it'll search-
• 29:51
  Brian Olson: Boolean?
• 29:52
  Robin Joy: yes.
• 29:53
  Robin Joy: Not, not the- Not
• 29:54
  Brian Olson: bullion.
• 29:55
  Robin Joy: Not bullion.
• 29:55
  Robin Joy: Yeah.
• 29:56
  Robin Joy: Boolean.
• 29:57
  Robin Joy: Yes,
• 29:57
  Brian Olson: Boolean.
• 29:57
  Brian Olson: Yeah.
• 29:59
  Robin Joy: Anyway, where it would search, terms and stuff, you know, find an article with those words in it or something.
• 30:03
  Robin Joy: And now they have put something called Seller Assista- It used to be Rufus.
• 30:08
  Robin Joy: Rufus didn't go well.
• 30:08
  Robin Joy: Oh, yeah, Rufus
• 30:09
  Brian Olson: sucked.
• 30:10
  Brian Olson: Yeah.
• 30:10
  Robin Joy: Now they've put, made Seller Assistant is what they're calling it.
• 30:14
  Robin Joy: So every time you ask a question, it gives you this kind of list of things.
• 30:18
  Robin Joy: Almost feels like the things it wants you to pay attention to-
• 30:22
  Brian Olson: Mm-hmm
• 30:23
  Robin Joy: ... or that whoever trained this did not understand that they were arbitrage sellers par for the course for anything, documentation from Amazon.
• 30:33
  Robin Joy: But- I don't find it that helpful when it, when it tries to take over.
• 30:39
  Robin Joy: I find it much more helpful to just use, just search for the words and find articles that have those words.
• 30:46
  Brian Olson: Hopefully Amazon is learning from what people- I, I'm hoping ... are clicking on and saying what's useful and what's not useful.
• 30:51
  Robin Joy: Yeah.
• 30:52
  Brian Olson: I mean, like even our basic knowledge base tools from 10 years ago, you know, 15- Mm-hmm ... years ago can do that.
• 30:58
  Brian Olson: Like, when somebody gives it a thumbs up, it becomes more meaningful.
• 31:01
  Brian Olson: When somebody gives it a thumbs down, it needs to be reviewed.
• 31:03
  Robin Joy: Yeah.
• 31:03
  Robin Joy: Yeah.
• 31:04
  Brian Olson: whatever door you use, the tool isn't the hard part, okay?
• 31:08
  Brian Olson: Just making sure you follow the rules.
• 31:10
  Brian Olson: Make sure you follow the rules, and then write your own rules so that an agent can follow them.
• 31:16
  Brian Olson: Yes.
• 31:16
  Brian Olson: So there's Amazon's rules, and then there are your rules.
• 31:19
  Brian Olson: The rules are the boss's rules, and who's the boss in your business?
• 31:23
  Robin Joy: Me.
• 31:23
  Brian Olson: Yes, you are the boss, not the agent, not the VAs, not the
• 31:28
  Robin Joy: tools.
• 31:28
  Brian Olson: Not the tools.
• 31:28
  Robin Joy: Right.
• 31:29
  Brian Olson: here's an interesting
• 31:29
  Robin Joy: one.
• 31:29
  Robin Joy: Be the boss in your own business.
• 31:32
  Brian Olson: Here's an interesting one.
• 31:33
  Robin Joy: Yeah.
• 31:33
  Brian Olson: 'Cause I do have a price change mechanism in one of my, apps.
• 31:37
  Brian Olson: A
• 31:37
  Robin Joy: custom one?
• 31:37
  Brian Olson: Custom one, yeah.
• 31:38
  Robin Joy: Okay.
• 31:39
  Brian Olson: and I had to tell it, "Don't change my price," without me clicking on the button that says, "Yes, I want to change my price." and s- Why
• 31:47
  Robin Joy: did you do that?
• 31:47
  Brian Olson: Because I didn't want to go and rogue.
• 31:49
  Brian Olson: Ask, I... Did I tell you, did I mention how many reprices we've been through over the
• 31:53
  Robin Joy: years?
• 31:53
  Robin Joy: Yes.
• 31:54
  Robin Joy: And how many times even clients have come to us, and their repricer went rogue.
• 31:59
  Robin Joy: Their
• 31:59
  Brian Olson: re- repricer went
• 31:59
  Robin Joy: rogue and started selling- This is not even agentic.
• 32:02
  Robin Joy: Yeah.
• 32:02
  Robin Joy: it's sort of agentic in, in- It, it, it's automated.
• 32:04
  Robin Joy: Yeah ... not, not in the same way we, we see AI- Uh-huh ... but it is automated, and they go rogue.
• 32:10
  Robin Joy: And how many times has that happened to us?
• 32:13
  Robin Joy: How many times has that happened to clients?
• 32:16
  Robin Joy: Like- I,
• 32:16
  Brian Olson: I know
• 32:16
  Robin Joy: ... this is before we even started making agents.
• 32:19
  Brian Olson: Now, this doesn't mean I may not turn it on autopilot after a l- lengthy testing period, I mean, I've been doing this for about nine months already, and I, I haven't-
• 32:28
  Robin Joy: You do have to still dial it in
• 32:29
  Brian Olson: ... came a- I haven't come across anything that didn't... The only thing that I've come across so far is it didn't do what I thought it was going to do.
• 32:35
  Brian Olson: But it just didn't change the price at all, not that it went rogue on me.
• 32:38
  Robin Joy: Okay.
• 32:38
  Robin Joy: Whatever.
• 32:39
  Robin Joy: It didn't even suggest a new price.
• 32:39
  Brian Olson: like, it was, like, broken, Yeah.
• 32:41
  Brian Olson: It'll give me suggestions.
• 32:42
  Brian Olson: I did write the logic into, like, tell me where I should have my price on this- Oh ... based on where my inventory is and where the buy box is.
• 32:47
  Brian Olson: And, you know, this is- Yeah ... the whole, you know, getting smarter at repricing your stuff is s- easier now.
• 32:52
  Robin Joy: Can, can I just say that- Mm-hmm ... it's, it's not unlike hiring an employee.
• 32:57
  Brian Olson: Exactly.
• 32:58
  Robin Joy: You gotta train them and make sure they're doing it the way you want it done, no matter how much experience they have with some other company.
• 33:05
  Robin Joy: When you bring them into your company, you gotta get them into your culture and your way of doing things, and they don't necessarily know what you've been through to get to, to that.
• 33:15
  Robin Joy: So they've gotta get oriented, and, That I, I look at the agents in the same way- Exactly
• 33:21
  Brian Olson: the same
• 33:21
  Robin Joy: way, yeah ... in the same way.
• 33:22
  Brian Olson: a- and so to this end, I did the same or something really similar in Profit Zones, if you use Profit Zones.
• 33:29
  Brian Olson: anything that it does through your S- Seller Central login, you have to authorize before it actually does it.
• 33:35
  Robin Joy: Okay.
• 33:35
  Brian Olson: Now, this is session specific, so when you log in like the next day, it should say, "Oh, you haven't..." Like, it has a timer on it, and-
• 33:43
  Robin Joy: Okay.
• 33:44
  Robin Joy: You've been logged out
• 33:44
  Brian Olson: ... so you've been logged out.
• 33:45
  Brian Olson: Oh, you need to log back in.
• 33:46
  Brian Olson: Boom, you need to authorize, s- Profit Zones to go pull information from, for you or apply- Okay for approval or something like that.
• 33:54
  Brian Olson: Check your approval.
• 33:55
  Robin Joy: Okay.
• 33:55
  Robin Joy: that's good.
• 33:56
  Robin Joy: Yeah.
• 33:56
  Robin Joy: So then there's just a little reminder that- Yeah ... you know, this is you doing, allowing this, and these are the things that, that you're authorizing.
• 34:04
  Brian Olson: Okay.
• 34:04
  Brian Olson: That's right.
• 34:04
  Brian Olson: Yeah.
• 34:05
  Robin Joy: All right.
• 34:06
  Robin Joy: people ask me if I would let an agent write its own documentation, and h- you know, this is an easy one for me.
• 34:14
  Robin Joy: You go back to w- an employee.
• 34:16
  Robin Joy: If I hire an employee, and we work out what their job description is and what tasks they're going to do, then I might say, you know, "Document that. Make sure that it is what you are doing, and you're the probably the best person to document it because you're the one doing the task." Then we'll probably go over the documentation together and make sure we all agree, but I don't have a problem with it writing its own documentation or even its own auditing as long as, as there's documentation to, say how to do that and what that do that, and, and it's been tested.
• 34:50
  Brian Olson: And do you know what else it can do, is it can write its own audit trail, too.
• 34:54
  Robin Joy: Yes.
• 34:54
  Brian Olson: somebody can still review that.
• 34:57
  Brian Olson: Another agent even can even review that.
• 34:59
  Brian Olson: You can review that.
• 35:01
  Brian Olson: Y- And you should until you've, you have complete, you know, trust that it's doing exactly what you wanted it to do.
• 35:07
  Robin Joy: Right.
• 35:08
  Robin Joy: Part of that is just that making sure that it understood what you were telling it.
• 35:12
  Robin Joy: I thi- I-
• 35:12
  Brian Olson: Exactly
• 35:13
  Robin Joy: ... I think maybe in the repricing situation that you had, maybe it just didn't understand what you were... What words that made sense to you didn't necessarily made sense to them, and they reinterpreted, and that's why you gotta go back and make sure that's the case.
• 35:27
  Robin Joy: But it all comes down to make the rules first.
• 35:31
  Robin Joy: Make the decisions first.
• 35:32
  Robin Joy: Do your SOPs, and then have an employee or a tool or an automation, execute those things that you've decided.
• 35:40
  Robin Joy: Don't decide while you're in the middle of it or afterwards.
• 35:44
  Robin Joy: Let them write their own rules.
• 35:46
  Robin Joy: write down the rules that you've decided on together.
• 35:49
  Robin Joy: They can do the writing of them.
• 35:50
  Robin Joy: Let them keep its own notes so that it can w- you know, refer to them when you ask it questions.
• 35:57
  Robin Joy: And always check.
• 35:59
  Robin Joy: Always check.
• 36:00
  Robin Joy: Always have a regular check just like you would with an employee.
• 36:03
  Brian Olson: Exactly.
• 36:03
  Robin Joy: Check in with them.
• 36:04
  Brian Olson: Yep.
• 36:05
  Brian Olson: Trust, trust but verify.
• 36:06
  Brian Olson: All right, now we're gonna have a little bit of fun in this last section here.
• 36:08
  Robin Joy: Okay.
• 36:09
  Brian Olson: 'cause we haven't been having
• 36:10
  Robin Joy: fun yet.
• 36:10
  Robin Joy: It, this has been a little bit n- nerdy, if I might say, so far.
• 36:13
  Brian Olson: you know, hey, we're, we're going more and more Amazon adjacent these days.
• 36:16
  Robin Joy: Yeah.
• 36:17
  Brian Olson: True.
• 36:18
  Brian Olson: let's flip this around.
• 36:19
  Brian Olson: Okay.
• 36:20
  Brian Olson: Okay?
• 36:20
  Brian Olson: That was AI on the seller side, where you're the reseller.
• 36:24
  Brian Olson: Okay.
• 36:24
  Brian Olson: Okay, now let's talk about the shopper side real quick.
• 36:27
  Robin Joy: Okay.
• 36:27
  Brian Olson: Because over the weekend, we watched this really interesting TikTok from a creator who's been asking AI chatbots for holiday gift ideas.
• 36:37
  Brian Olson: Now, I thought this was brilliant.
• 36:39
  Brian Olson: Yeah.
• 36:39
  Brian Olson: And you know we're data-driven.
• 36:40
  Robin Joy: Oh, yeah.
• 36:40
  Brian Olson: like, any d- And she's a very data-driven person, too.
• 36:43
  Brian Olson: And so I was like, "Oh, this should be good." And so she was giving examples like, you know, gifts for a 10-year-old, Secret Santa gifts under $20, and then asking which store to buy it at.
• 36:54
  Brian Olson: Okay?
• 36:55
  Brian Olson: She's has over 4,500 responses so far.
• 36:59
  Robin Joy: Wow.
• 37:00
  Brian Olson: And guess who's getting the largest share of the store recommendations?
• 37:05
  Robin Joy: Walmart.
• 37:06
  Brian Olson: No.
• 37:08
  Brian Olson: Second guess
• 37:09
  Robin Joy: ... Amazon.
• 37:09
  Brian Olson: No.
• 37:11
  Brian Olson: Target.
• 37:12
  Robin Joy: Target?
• 37:13
  Robin Joy: Target- Really?
• 37:14
  Brian Olson: ... is getting-
• 37:14
  Robin Joy: Okay
• 37:15
  Brian Olson: ... 37% of the store recommendations.
• 37:17
  Brian Olson: So 37% of those 40, whatever, 4,500 are saying, "Go buy this at Target."
• 37:23
  Robin Joy: Okay, so, okay.
• 37:24
  Brian Olson: Amazon came in at 7.5%, and Walmart came in at under 1%.
• 37:30
  Robin Joy: I remember, I remember looking at this, and I remember thinking, "Okay, that kind of makes sense to me," because I've heard that there are ways to let these frontier models know, who you are and almost even advertise with them and be available to them to choose you.
• 37:48
  Robin Joy: And so then I started pushing back in this conversation and said,"Well, you know, what- based on what- Mm-hmm ... are they recommending?"
• 37:56
  Brian Olson: Yeah.
• 37:57
  Robin Joy: Are they recommending based on that's what I have the most information about, that's what people are te- AI users are telling me, over and over, or just that's, that's what has been, pushed to me as a source?
• 38:14
  Robin Joy: So I still say based on what?
• 38:16
  Robin Joy: I kind of, kind of want to question that.
• 38:20
  Robin Joy: I just think we shouldn't, use AI answers W- w- carte blanche
• 38:28
  Brian Olson: Yeah, just like we said it in the last section, you know, without verification.
• 38:32
  Robin Joy: Yeah.
• 38:32
  Robin Joy: Right We want to make sure that it understands what we're asking, and we know where it came from.
• 38:37
  Robin Joy: We've said this before.
• 38:37
  Robin Joy: This is the- What are your sources?
• 38:38
  Brian Olson: This is the biggest thing.
• 38:40
  Brian Olson: Like, I had a session, last week or I was trading some emails with a coaching client, and, this person does something that is so foreign to me.
• 38:48
  Brian Olson: I have n- I have ... I cannot even relate to this person's profession.
• 38:52
  Brian Olson: Okay?
• 38:52
  Brian Olson: And so when I'm asking hi- well, if I'm assum- if I ask him a question about how he does his job, and he gives me an answer, I'm just gonna believe him, 'cause I have no idea.
• 39:02
  Brian Olson: I have no context.
• 39:03
  Brian Olson: I have no way to tell.
• 39:05
  Brian Olson: I'm assum- I'm trusting him that that information is accurate.
• 39:09
  Robin Joy: And you're not sure if you're interpreting his answer properly or not.
• 39:14
  Brian Olson: So the same thing applies to AI.
• 39:15
  Brian Olson: If I don't know anything about what I'm asking AI about, and it gives me the answer, how do I validate that?
• 39:22
  Brian Olson: Yeah.
• 39:22
  Brian Olson: How do I verify that?
• 39:23
  Brian Olson: and so it's, it is ... It can be easier if you've got certainly if you've got domain expertise, then you know.
• 39:31
  Brian Olson: This is why we feel so confident leveraging AI in so much of what we do because we know our space backwards and forwards like- Mm-hmm you know, like nobody's business.
• 39:40
  Brian Olson: It's our own business.
• 39:41
  Brian Olson: We know this.
• 39:42
  Brian Olson: We know when AI has given us trash.
• 39:43
  Robin Joy: Yes.
• 39:44
  Robin Joy: Yes.
• 39:44
  Brian Olson: We know when the answer's
• 39:45
  Robin Joy: wrong.
• 39:45
  Robin Joy: We fight back all the time.
• 39:45
  Brian Olson: Yeah.
• 39:46
  Brian Olson: We know when it needs to be tweaked, If you don't know the difference, and you're asking ChatGPT for an answer, and you get the conventional wisdom, guess what?
• 39:53
  Brian Olson: It may not be right.
• 39:55
  Robin Joy: It, it may not be what you're looking for
• 39:57
  Brian Olson: anyway.
• 39:57
  Brian Olson: May not
• 39:57
  Robin Joy: be what
• 39:57
  Brian Olson: you're looking for.
• 39:58
  Robin Joy: It may be right- Yeah ... in a certain interpretation- Certain, yeah ... but it may not understand what you're asking.
• 40:02
  Brian Olson: Yeah.
• 40:02
  Brian Olson: It doesn't have the full context.
• 40:04
  Robin Joy: Yeah.
• 40:04
  Brian Olson: And so that's usually the biggest thing, and this is why we've said before, AI is powerful, but it's the most powerful when it knows the most about you or your business.
• 40:13
  Brian Olson: anyway, just thinking back to this ranking, Amazon coming in second place at 7.5%.
• 40:17
  Brian Olson: I still think that's actually a good number.
• 40:19
  Brian Olson: Oh, real quick, I forgot something there.
• 40:22
  Brian Olson: in terms of the toys, the toy recommendations-
• 40:25
  Robin Joy: Uh-huh
• 40:26
  Brian Olson: Lego showed up in 70% of the answers for kids for t- toys for kids.
• 40:30
  Robin Joy: This doesn't surprise me.
• 40:31
  Robin Joy: In fact, I'm, I'm becoming more and more impressed-
• 40:35
  Brian Olson: Uh-huh
• 40:35
  Robin Joy: ... with the stay power-
• 40:37
  Brian Olson: Of Lego?
• 40:38
  Robin Joy: ... of Lego.
• 40:38
  Robin Joy: I
• 40:38
  Brian Olson: know.
• 40:39
  Robin Joy: I mean, they have been around for decades, and they just keep being popular with the next generation and the next generation.
• 40:46
  Robin Joy: The, and the, and as we grow older, it's still popular as adults.
• 40:51
  Robin Joy: Like, it's-
• 40:52
  Brian Olson: they found a way to, partner with other brands- Uh-huh and other franchises.
• 40:56
  Brian Olson: Yes.
• 40:57
  Brian Olson: Think of Star Wars and Star Trek and, and, all the- And then
• 40:59
  Robin Joy: they license too, I think.
• 41:01
  Brian Olson: Yeah.
• 41:01
  Brian Olson: They, that's what I, that's actually was the word I was looking for- Okay ... is the licensing.
• 41:04
  Robin Joy: Yeah.
• 41:04
  Brian Olson: Yeah.
• 41:04
  Brian Olson: They've got a great licensing model.
• 41:06
  Robin Joy: Yeah.
• 41:07
  Robin Joy: I'm just ... Yeah, I'm impressed.
• 41:08
  Robin Joy: the- Yeah that's ... Again, I'm getting off script a lot today.
• 41:12
  Robin Joy: I know.
• 41:12
  Robin Joy: Sorry about that.
• 41:12
  Brian Olson: Anyway.
• 41:12
  Brian Olson: I, I, I kind of think that, I think I'm using my own personal experience, but I always start on Amazon.
• 41:19
  Brian Olson: I never start on Target.
• 41:20
  Brian Olson: I never start on Walmart when I'm searching for things.
• 41:22
  Brian Olson: Start what?
• 41:23
  Brian Olson: When I'm searching for things.
• 41:24
  Robin Joy: Oh, when you're searching for things to buy.
• 41:25
  Brian Olson: Yes.
• 41:25
  Brian Olson: Yeah.
• 41:25
  Robin Joy: Yeah.
• 41:26
  Brian Olson: Um, and so I think it's probably understated, that seven and a half percent- Yeah ... I think could easily be much higher than that.
• 41:32
  Brian Olson: And for all we know, Target's doing the AEO game.
• 41:36
  Robin Joy: Yeah, that's what I was saying.
• 41:37
  Robin Joy: We, we don't know that they haven't set that up to be the most popular.
• 41:42
  Brian Olson: On the other hand, remember when I first started in this business, if it wasn't a deal at Target- Yes.
• 41:48
  Brian Olson: ... it wasn't a deal for me?
• 41:49
  Brian Olson: That's because I feel more comfortable with Target, and I can't help but wonder if a lot of- You can't
• 41:52
  Robin Joy: be the only one
• 41:52
  Brian Olson: ... people feel that same way.
• 41:54
  Robin Joy: True.
• 41:54
  Brian Olson: And so that's the reason that Target's at 37%, and Amazon's cold.
• 41:58
  Brian Olson: It's the e-commerce company.
• 41:59
  Brian Olson: There's no, like-
• 42:00
  Robin Joy: Mm
• 42:00
  Brian Olson: ... I can't walk into the store and walk into the furniture section and feel like, you know- Mm-hmm ... ge- get the stuff that makes me feel at home.
• 42:07
  Robin Joy: That's true.
• 42:08
  Brian Olson: I mean, I can buy it at, on Amazon, and, um, but I can't get in there and touch it and feel it, you know- Yeah before I actually do that.
• 42:15
  Robin Joy: Right.
• 42:16
  Brian Olson: anyway Uh, we're total data geeks, just in case if that wasn't obvious.
• 42:21
  Brian Olson: Yeah.
• 42:22
  Brian Olson: And, um, this is really just one person's-
• 42:24
  Robin Joy: As is our whole family.
• 42:26
  Brian Olson: This is one person's, experience doing this.
• 42:28
  Brian Olson: I will say she's also very data-driven.
• 42:31
  Brian Olson: and, one more number from her.
• 42:33
  Brian Olson: Okay.
• 42:34
  Brian Olson: On gifts up to $200-
• 42:36
  Robin Joy: Mm-hmm
• 42:37
  Brian Olson: ... so the more expensive gifts, 17% of those answers were not being sent to Target or, or Walmart or Amazon.
• 42:45
  Brian Olson: They're being sent directly to the brand's own website.
• 42:48
  Robin Joy: Oh.
• 42:49
  Brian Olson: So if you are a brand owner- Mm-hmm ... you can certainly AEO.
• 42:53
  Brian Olson: I, I can't remember exact- if it's AI, artificial engine optimization.
• 42:57
  Brian Olson: I don't know what the A is in AEO.
• 42:59
  Brian Olson: A- E- yeah.
• 42:59
  Brian Olson: I, I haven't done e- anything EO, E-I-E-O- since SEO.
• 43:03
  Robin Joy: Since SEO
• 43:04
  Brian Olson: back when we were trying to get- Right, search engine optimization ... websites.
• 43:06
  Brian Olson: Yeah, or- Yeah whatever.
• 43:07
  Brian Olson: anyway, you can, I know you, there's a way to do it, and you- Yeah ... alluded to it earlier.
• 43:11
  Brian Olson: You can optimize your site for AI recommendations.
• 43:14
  Brian Olson: Yeah.
• 43:15
  Robin Joy: And I'm not sure it's a bad idea.
• 43:17
  Robin Joy: But keep that in mind that people can do that when you're st- asking AI for its opinion.
• 43:23
  Robin Joy: Especially, you know, different models that use, you know, a Google shur- search to find, popularity and things like that, you know.
• 43:32
  Robin Joy: If they've optimized for a Google search, then they may be coming up.
• 43:36
  Brian Olson: I c- I think, this is the same, person who started like a fake toothpaste brand and got it to rank.
• 43:41
  Brian Olson: G- Oh ... got ChatGPT bot- Is it the same
• 43:43
  Robin Joy: one?
• 43:43
  Robin Joy: I remember
• 43:43
  Brian Olson: that too ... to give the answers of this, yeah, what's the best toothpaste or something like that.
• 43:47
  Brian Olson: And, it was r- like the fake brand that she made up was always landing on number two or number three most recommended.
• 43:54
  Brian Olson: It's not even real.
• 43:54
  Brian Olson: And it was totally fake, and it's because- Yeah ... she just did the, optimization, the AI optimization.
• 43:58
  Robin Joy: Yeah, yeah.
• 43:59
  Robin Joy: Okay.
• 44:00
  Brian Olson: Anyway, is there any lesson here as the reseller?
• 44:02
  Brian Olson: I don't think so.
• 44:03
  Brian Olson: I think keep buying what people are actually buying.
• 44:06
  Brian Olson: Test a few units, and let your own sales tell you what works,
• 44:09
  Robin Joy: Yeah, as usual.
• 44:10
  Robin Joy: Y- you know, test, verify what you think is true using a test, and, you know, don't, don't make big decisions until you have done some testing.
• 44:22
  Brian Olson: And this just speaks to the conversation we had, fairly recently around if AI keeps sending people to Target or straight to a brand's own website, this just s- backs up the fact that you shouldn't have all your eggs in one basket.
• 44:34
  Robin Joy: Yes.
• 44:35
  Robin Joy: Yeah, because it becomes kind of a self-fulfilling prophecy,
• 44:38
  Brian Olson: Yeah, yeah.
• 44:39
  Robin Joy: Yeah.
• 44:40
  Robin Joy: Diversify.
• 44:41
  Robin Joy: All right.
• 44:42
  Robin Joy: All right, Brian, do you have a quote for us today?
• 44:45
  Brian Olson: Oh, I do.
• 44:45
  Brian Olson: first, before I, I wanted to go back to the, the three buckets of how you access- Okay ... the AI.
• 44:51
  Robin Joy: Yeah.
• 44:51
  Brian Olson: you were, you were given one of the parents picking up.
• 44:54
  Brian Olson: I came up with another one.
• 44:55
  Brian Olson: You know that sometimes with certain cars you'd get a valet key-
• 45:00
  Robin Joy: Yeah
• 45:00
  Brian Olson: ... that comes with the car, and it will start the car, but it doesn't open the trunk or the glove box and doesn't let it go faster than- Uh-huh ... a certain speed or whatever.
• 45:06
  Robin Joy: Right.
• 45:07
  Brian Olson: That's-
• 45:07
  Robin Joy: Only things you want the valet to be able to access
• 45:09
  Brian Olson: that's sort of what the API is, the SP-API.
• 45:12
  Robin Joy: Okay.
• 45:12
  Brian Olson: That is giving you a defined set of behaviors for how it's going to work.
• 45:17
  Robin Joy: Okay.
• 45:17
  Robin Joy: Okay?
• 45:18
  Brian Olson: Amazon built a key that only does what they a- allow it to do,
• 45:23
  Robin Joy: okay?
• 45:23
  Robin Joy: Okay.
• 45:23
  Robin Joy: And, and the extensions?
• 45:25
  Brian Olson: Hold on.
• 45:26
  Robin Joy: Okay.
• 45:28
  Brian Olson: now the extensions, that's like, lending a friend your car while you're riding.
• 45:34
  Brian Olson: like, my friend Mark comes over, and I'm like, "Here, drive my car," But I'm sitting in the passenger seat.
• 45:38
  Brian Olson: We're driving down the road together.
• 45:39
  Brian Olson: We're, we're making sort of decisions together 'cause he doesn't know where he's going.
• 45:42
  Robin Joy: Okay.
• 45:43
  Robin Joy: Right?
• 45:43
  Brian Olson: Okay?
• 45:44
  Brian Olson: that's fine as long as everybody knows who's driving.
• 45:47
  Robin Joy: Yeah.
• 45:47
  Brian Olson: Yeah, my friend is driving this car.
• 45:48
  Brian Olson: I'm not driving the car.
• 45:49
  Brian Olson: That is the agent tag.
• 45:52
  Robin Joy: Okay.
• 45:52
  Brian Olson: Okay?
• 45:53
  Brian Olson: now AI driving your browser, that is the you just hand your keys to somebody and you walk away,
• 46:00
  Robin Joy: Okay.
• 46:00
  Brian Olson: If they get the ticket or get in an accident, it's still your name on the registration of that vehicle.
• 46:06
  Brian Olson: You are still responsible for whatever portion of that you would be responsible for anyway.
• 46:10
  Robin Joy: Yeah, that's true.
• 46:11
  Robin Joy: That's true.
• 46:11
  Brian Olson: Okay.
• 46:12
  Robin Joy: Yeah
• 46:12
  Brian Olson: ... and you, and you're the, you used to do the insurance guru thing, In
• 46:16
  Robin Joy: another life I was- Yeah ... I was an analyst for an insurance company.
• 46:19
  Robin Joy: Yeah.
• 46:19
  Robin Joy: That's right.
• 46:19
  Brian Olson: Yeah.
• 46:19
  Robin Joy: That's right.
• 46:20
  Robin Joy: So when you're having your car parked-
• 46:23
  Brian Olson: Give them the valet key
• 46:24
  Robin Joy: ... give them the valet key.
• 46:25
  Robin Joy: Yeah.
• 46:25
  Robin Joy: When you're, when you're using AI to do tasks for you-
• 46:29
  Brian Olson: Mm-hmm
• 46:29
  Robin Joy: ... give them the valet key.
• 46:30
  Robin Joy: Don't give them the, all the keys to the kingdom.
• 46:33
  Brian Olson: That's right.
• 46:34
  Brian Olson: Yeah.
• 46:34
  Brian Olson: there is a rule from Bill Gates that nobody really likes when they're excited about a new tool.
• 46:39
  Robin Joy: Okay.
• 46:40
  Brian Olson: And, you know, I'm probably on the excited side of AI, I would say you are it's not that I don't like it.
• 46:45
  Brian Olson: but I agree with this, 100%.
• 46:47
  Brian Olson: This is our quote for the day.
• 46:48
  Robin Joy: Okay.
• 46:49
  Brian Olson: " " The first rule of any technology used in a business is that automation applied to an efficient operation will magnify the efficiency."
• 46:58
  Robin Joy: Yes.
• 46:59
  Robin Joy: Okay.
• 46:59
  Brian Olson: " The second rule is that automation applied to an inefficient operation will magnify the inefficiency."
• 47:06
  Robin Joy: Yes.
• 47:07
  Robin Joy: Yes.
• 47:08
  Robin Joy: So if you have a mess-
• 47:10
  Brian Olson: Uh-huh
• 47:11
  Robin Joy: ... and you apply an agent-
• 47:12
  Brian Olson: To go faster.
• 47:13
  Brian Olson: Mm-hmm
• 47:13
  Robin Joy: ... that can, that can do those tasks faster-
• 47:16
  Brian Olson: Mm-hmm
• 47:17
  Robin Joy: ... you just make a bigger mess faster.
• 47:19
  Brian Olson: That's right.
• 47:20
  Robin Joy: Get... We say get out there, make a mess, but let's get that mess cleaned up before you apply automation to it.
• 47:27
  Brian Olson: Yeah.
• 47:27
  Brian Olson: Get your SOPs defined for every major process that you have.
• 47:31
  Brian Olson: Make sure you don't have any major questions left unanswered.
• 47:34
  Robin Joy: Yeah.
• 47:35
  Brian Olson: Okay?
• 47:35
  Brian Olson: And once you feel comfort- confident, confident, comfortable, whatever with that- that's when you can go agentic.
• 47:42
  Brian Olson: think about agentic is like, a smart... Instead of hiring people as employees- Mm-hmm ... you can- That's
• 47:47
  Robin Joy: the way
• 47:47
  Brian Olson: I'm looking
• 47:47
  Robin Joy: at it
• 47:48
  Brian Olson: ... build agents as employees.
• 47:49
  Robin Joy: Yes.
• 47:50
  Robin Joy: So treat them as if they are your employees.
• 47:53
  Robin Joy: Yes.
• 47:53
  Robin Joy: You wouldn't just give your employees all of your keys on day one.
• 47:58
  Robin Joy: You, you would work them in as they need access,
• 48:03
  Brian Olson: And, and that's what, I keep getting more and more feedback on Derek, who was on the, the-
• 48:07
  Robin Joy: Yeah
• 48:08
  Brian Olson: ... webinar the other night about-
• 48:09
  Robin Joy: Right
• 48:09
  Brian Olson: his agent and, a- and from him, from him and from other people-
• 48:12
  Robin Joy: Uh-huh
• 48:13
  Brian Olson: about how good it is at doing what he's asking it to do.
• 48:18
  Brian Olson: But again, it's only as good as what you know.
• 48:20
  Robin Joy: Right.
• 48:21
  Robin Joy: Right.
• 48:22
  Robin Joy: If you can't give it directions properly, not that you have to understand AI, that you have to understand your own business.
• 48:29
  Robin Joy: And if you just say, "Well, do what you think you should do about that pricing," and you don't put any parameters around it, it's gonna do whatever it wants, and you- Yeah you have no control.
• 48:37
  Brian Olson: Yeah.
• 48:38
  Brian Olson: All right.
• 48:38
  Brian Olson: So when you get overwhelmed about whether you should use AI or not-
• 48:41
  Robin Joy: Mm-hmm, you know what we do?
• 48:44
  Brian Olson: Uh, we go be undeniable.
• 48:46
  Robin Joy: We will not be denied.
• 48:49
  Robin Joy: Will
• 48:49
  Brian Olson: you?
• 48:49
  Brian Olson: Will you?
• 48:50
  Brian Olson: Great to see you, everybody.
• 48:52
  Robin Joy: Hey, everybody.
• 48:52
  Robin Joy: We'll see you soon.