Her company, SalesE, focuses on creating AI-driven solutions for complex enterprise scenarios, particularly in distribution and manufacturing.
Bolanos’s background in the Navy’s nuclear community instilled a critical approach to problem-solving, emphasising root cause analysis. Her frustration with slow pricing processes in the semiconductor industry, combined with the emergence of advanced AI technologies like ChatGPT, inspired her to create SalesE. The company developed an AI-first rules engine that addresses the critical challenge of balancing speed and accuracy in high-stakes business environments. Their approach involves creating a flexible, no-code rule system that allows companies to define precise operational boundaries for AI implementation. A key feature is the ‘human in the loop’ architecture, which routes any uncertain or complex scenarios to human experts, ensuring accuracy and maintaining transparency.
Bolanos highlighted the importance of trust in AI technologies, noting that mistrust exists both outside and within technological circles. Her solution provides complete visibility into decision-making processes, allowing users to understand exactly how AI-generated conclusions are reached. Discussing AI developments, Bolanos expressed excitement about multimodal AI and its potential for scientific and medical breakthroughs. She sees significant opportunities in levelling the business playing field, enabling entrepreneurs to accomplish more with fewer resources. However, she also expressed concerns about agentic AI, particularly regarding data security and unintended consequences. The potential for employees to create agents with broad database access poses significant risks to proprietary information and company security.
Bolanos’s perspective on AI has evolved rapidly. Her initial amazement at ChatGPT’s capabilities was tempered by realising its limitations in high-stakes environments. This led her to focus on creating AI solutions with deterministic outputs and robust governance.
Looking forward, she emphasised the broader societal implications of AI development. Bolanos believes current conversations are too technology-focused and not sufficiently addressing critical issues like workforce transformation, employment impacts, and the potential emergence of humanoid robots.
Bolanos’s background in nuclear engineering and semiconductors has uniquely positioned her to approach AI development with a rigorous, safety-first mindset. Her work with SalesE represents an approach to AI that prioritises accuracy, transparency, and human oversight. The conversation concluded with a call to broaden discussions about AI’s impact, moving beyond technological capabilities to explore its broader implications for human purpose, employment, and societal structure.
To hear more from Jeana Bolanos, you can listen to Electronic Specifier’s interview on Spotify or Apple podcasts.
