The man who says he wakes up thinking about Chattanooga’s economic picture every day also says that when it comes to Artificial Intelligence, Chattanooga business leaders are thinking about how to best leverage the technology for economic opportunity.
“There’s a lot of conversation around Artificial Intelligence and what’s happening not just in Chattanooga but about what the bigger trends and potential impacts are,” said Charles Wood, president of the Chattanooga Chamber of Commerce.
“There are opportunities. There are risks, and there certainly are concerns out there, but the reality is the cat’s out of the bag and AI is part of our daily lives,” he said. “I think a lot of things are going to take time to play out, but whether you sell coffee or you make cars, whether you’re writing code or you’re running in a restaurant, there is a question around ‘How do we leverage this technology for our business? How do we make it more efficient? How do we make it better from a customer service standpoint?’ “
Wood’s observations came during an episode of CH-AI Brews, the University of Tennessee at Chattanooga student-led podcast from the University’s Artificial Intelligence intiative. He is among the civic and business leaders and innovators featured in the eight episodes that make up the podcast’s second season.
In response to the interest in leveraging AI technology expressed by business leaders from the Chamber’s almost 2,000 member organizations, Wood said his team is looking for learning opportunities to offer its members and small businesses.
“My peers, other people running chambers of commerce elsewhere in the country, we’re both excited by the potential and scared of what it could mean for jobs,” he said. “There will be jobs that start to fade before more jobs are created, but jobs will be created.
“And I think that’s a message to our community and community leaders. As this technology unfolds it’s going to be critical whether we embrace it and how we embrace it.”
In this context, Wood said, Chattanooga has two main opportunities: manufacturing and startups.
“We think there’s opportunity for innovation in Chattanooga, and the potential for technology growth points to the second piece—which is that we have a pretty significant base of manufacturing here.
“But if you go into a lot of manufacturing settings today, it’s not odd to walk in and it look like a ‘clean room.’ Only recently I walked into a manufacturing plant and I literally saw a robot running across the manufacturing floor carrying materials.”
Further, Wood added, the innovation and impact on jobs that await college graduates also presents an important opportunity for UTC to ensure that the University “has the resources to build out a great talent pipeline that understands the technology, can utilize the technology and, maybe, can build the technology.”
When it comes to AI savvy, “I view it as a necessary skill at this point,” Wood added.
Wood joined the Chattanooga Chamber as its vice president for economic development in 2012. In that role, he focused on new job creation in Chattanooga and the 16-county tri-state region of Southeast Tennessee and north Georgia and north Alabama. He was named president and CEO of the Chamber in 2023. He has a bachelor’s degree in computer science and a master’s degree in economic development–both from the University of Southern Mississippi.
Listen to Wood’s conversation with UTC’s Daniel Duggin, a computer science graduate student and member of the University’s AI Core Team, by visiting and following the series on Spotify. CH-AI Brews also is available on Apple podcasts. Excerpts of season 2 episodes air on Mondays on WUTC-FM 88.1 on Mondays.