While artificial intelligence and machine learning has been around for years, advances with the technology in the past year have made AI one of the biggest hottest issues of 2023 for just about anyone doing business.

In the Capital Region, AI is no longer a futuristic concept. It is a present-day tool driving change across various sectors. From medical offices to legal firms, industry and marketing, companies in diverse fields across the Capital Region are capitalizing on incorporating AI into their workflows. 

Through these stories, we explore the diverse ways in which AI is being integrated into businesses in the Capital Region. From small startups to established corporations, these stories provide a glimpse into the practical applications of AI in different industries. They highlight the efficiency, innovation and competitive edge that AI can bring, while also acknowledging the challenges and learning curves involved in its adoption.

Beyond just sharing experiences, this guide for AI integration includes advice on evaluating the relevance of AI for different business models, tips for crafting effective AI policies, best practices for reskilling and upskilling employees, and insights on writing clear and effective prompts to maximize AI’s potential.

POLITICAL CONSULTING

THE PLAY STRATEGY: ChatGPT, Tableau, Microsoft Power BI

Mary-Patricia Wray has spent the year exploring artificial intelligence software tools, sifting through them to see which could offer value to Top Drawer Strategies, the lobbying business she started nearly a decade ago.

Through trial and error, Wray has identified myriad uses for various AI applications in her business.

“There has not been a day in the past four or five months where I didn’t use AI to either help communicate something to a client or analyze data,” Wray says. “What used to take 20 minutes takes five minutes now. It allows me to care more about my work without being so drained.”

One of the biggest takeaways, she says, has been the AI-powered data analysis and visualization tools. While Tableau has been around for years as a data visualization tool, the software has advanced how it takes big data, analyzes it and graphs it.

While in the past, clients had to rely on Wray’s gut and opinions alone when she pitched a strategy, she can now show them figures and trends uncovered by AI that back her up.

“You don’t need a cultivated spreadsheet anymore,” she says. “It can come up with interesting data points that you didn’t know existed. I can help a client decide how to use a marketing budget or help clients make decisions that are in their best interest.”

AI can also be used to help track bills or predict the outcomes of a piece of legislation, she says. By feeding a program the past voting records of a legislator or transcripts of a committee hearing, AI can help predict how a legislator will vote on a certain issue.

One tool she utilizes even allows her to leave customized voicemails to legislators in her own voice. She uses AI to draft customized messages for constituents, legislators and clients as well as to test the messages without extensive polling. She also says AI allows her interns to take on more complex tasks.

While Wray is already using AI platforms for multiple functions, she still keeps an open mind for new uses of the technology, which is still evolving. She strives to explore either a new demo software or a training session about once a week.

“Over time, those little advantages add up, whether it’s in client development or communication,” she says. “You’re constantly adding a bit of edge here, and that means more revenue and more value for the people you consult.”

For more information about Mary-Patricia Wray and her use of AI, watch our new episode of Bottom Line.

COMMERCIAL REAL ESTATE

THE PLAY STRATEGY: ChatGPT, Bard

Justin Langlois jokes that he has 10 go-to reasons for using artificial intelligence platforms for help with his work in real estate.

While he has an assistant, he says there are tasks he believes are below their pay grade, such as filing documents, research and writing certain marketing packages. For those tasks, he chooses AI.

“I learned early on that I could use it as another assistant,” he says. “You can train it.”

As a salesperson, he says he doesn’t use the creative side of his brain often and credits AI for helping him prepare marketing materials faster than he previously could.

Earlier this year, he listed and sold a department store in Metairie and challenged himself to use AI as much as he could for writing the marketing package.

“The description of the location on Veterans Boulevard, how many stores the chain operates, the description of the building and of Metairie as a whole—all from AI,” Langlois says. “I think people worry that it will replace humans, but in our world it has made us better at our jobs. There are just certain things that we shouldn’t be spending our time on.”

He also uses AI to help fact-check real estate data. What used to take him 30 to 40 minutes to analyze himself in Excel, he can now copy and paste into ChatGPT, which spits out answers in seconds.

For Google-specific content, he turns to Bard, Google’s chat-based AI tool. He feeds it information about a deal, as well as previous things he has written, and asks it to write him a testimonial in his voice.

“It compounds—30 minutes here, 40 minutes there,” he says. “In my world, we’re driven by results and AI software has allowed me to take stuff to market way, way faster than in the past.”

BANKING & FINANCE

THE PLAY STRATEGY: Closed-loop LLM

At Baton Rouge-based Neighbors Federal Credit Union, executives have been working on two separate projects since the late summer implementing artificial intelligence technologies into the credit union’s workflow.

For the first, Neighbors is working with Henry Hays and Disrupt Ready to build a closed loop LLM, an internal intranet for the organization, which Brett Reynolds, the credit union’s vice president of marketing, says will help support employees.

“Instead of digging through policy and procedures handbooks, employees can type a question into the language model and get a specific answer,” Reynolds says. “It’s like an intranet on steroids.”

Reynolds, who has been with the organization since 2004, says building a staff database for the credit union has been part of the strategic plan for years and that building it into an intranet would make it easier for staff to use. He’s hoping that the new system will help standardize the way the credit union conducts business.

While that project will be used only by the credit union’s staff, the second project is geared externally toward clients. The credit union is integrating AI software with the phone system and its website to help clients find products and services, and in the future conduct smart transactions.

“With this, members can get a lot of the simple things done themselves and it will free our staff to handle more in-depth issues that come up in banking,” Reynolds says, noting that the credit union has roughly 80,000 members. “We’re hoping that wait times when people call will be a thing of the past.”

Both projects are on track to be completed in early 2024, and Reynolds says he would like to see AI integrated within the credit union’s data analytics.

“The initial idea is that AI technology can do anything and everything,” Reynolds says. “It’s not going to solve every issue in the world but there are practical applications that can be used to make us more and more efficient.”

MEDICINE

THE PLAY STRATEGY: MR-Box by TeraPanacea

The evolving world of artificial intelligence tools has been on Sotirios Stathakis’ radar since he attended a conference in Montreal in 2019 that talked about machine and deep learning.

Four years later, he has helped implement AI technologies at Mary Bird Perkins that are helping doctors pinpoint exactly which organs are being impacted by cancers or could be impacted by chemotherapy and radiation treatments.

Patients need both an MRI and a CT scan for doctors to develop a cancer treatment plan. While the MRI gives doctors information about the soft tissues in the body, CT scans give physicians information on the density of organs and is used to help calculate radiotherapy treatment dosages.

But getting the additional scan can be tricky—it requires patients to be in the exact position as the MRI and requires an additional appointment.

This fall, Mary Bird Perkins began using software that takes a patient’s MRI image and creates an AI-generated CT scan. The software, MR-Box by TeraPanacea, eliminates the need to book a second appointment, which could take weeks, and allows a patient to receive treatment much sooner than was previously possible. MR-Box is FDA-approved to produce scans for multiple cancers affecting the brain, abdomen and pelvis.

Like other AI-generated content, however, the images still need a human eye for approval, Stathakis says.

In the future, Stathakis believes AI technology can help hospitals improve their workflows to become more efficient and effective. For example, AI software can analyze thousands of appointments that hospitals have on the books and predict how busy facilities will be in the future and how many staff members will be needed.

“The options are endless,” Stathakis says. “AI is here and it’s going to be here for a while. The best way to cope with it is to embrace it and understand it.”

ARCHITECTURE

THE PLAY STRATEGY: ChatGPT

Amanda Carlin joined local architecture firm DNA Workshop as its marketing director in January after spending a half-decade at broadcast station WAFB-TV.

With a creative background, she has strong opinions on content creation and began exploring artificial intelligence tools such as ChatGPT early in the year, shortly after joining the firm.

“Everyone was talking about it,” Carlin says. “I thought, ‘Let’s go see what this thing can do.’ I really like using it for certain things and not other things. Some aspects are overhyped.”

While she acknowledges the general fear that it may replace creatives and take away job opportunities, she says she hasn’t produced anything that has been ready to go “as is.” As the only person handling marketing for her firm, she likens the technology to a person or co-worker that she can bounce ideas off.

“If I need help outlining a proposal, I’ll ask its opinion, but I can disagree with the suggestions,” she says.

AI’s real strength is idea generation and helping people organize their thoughts for writing, she says. She estimates that she turns to AI software, mostly ChatGPT, about twice a week when she gets stuck on something and wants a second opinion.

People should be a little wary of that second opinion, though. She jokes that she can ask ChatGPT for a shortbread cookie recipe but that it may not necessarily give her a good one.

“You have to be careful,” Carlin warns. “AI will talk with so much confidence, but it may not be true. Anything it gives you, you have to not trust it to some degree. It has its place—its place is just not everywhere.”

SHORT-TERM RENTAL AND VACATION HOMES

THE PLAY STRATEGY: PriceLabs, AirDNA, Minut, Autohost

When ChatGPT widely launched last year, Thomas Schumacher was first concerned with how scammers would use the technology to spam his short-term and vacation rental company River Homes with fake requests on his website as well as on Vrbo and Airbnb.

“Are these real people behind these requests? Scam artists are getting more advanced to send messages and requests that seem legitimate,” says Schumacher, who manages homes in St. Francisville, Baton Rouge and the False River area in New Roads.

But with time, he—like many other executives in Baton Rouge—began asking: How can artificial intelligence benefit my business?

Software like PriceLabs and AirDNA help short-term rental owners with price optimization by looking at the market and seeing what other homes are charging as well as demand levels. Schumacher can also input a calendar of local events—such as the St. Francisville Food & Wine Festival and the LSU football season—to help predict demand and adjust prices accordingly.

“We want our homes to be filled with quality guests,” Schumacher says. “AI can sift through reservations and catch red flags. If there’s only one guest listed, our AI will message them and confirm that it’s one person staying at the home.”

AI tools also allow Schumacher to respond to guests’ inquiries when he’s unavailable.

“We receive requests in the middle of the night, 3 a.m., from people all over the country,” he says. “People want to know what the distance is from the houses to the LSU stadium or the school itself. If we don’t answer within five minutes, that guest may move on to another home listing. When I’m sleeping, AI allows me to get a quick response to them.”

With short-term rentals, the more often listings are updated, the higher it appears on search results, he says. For the past few months, he’s used an AI plug-in on River Homes’ website that helps with home descriptions and suggests which photos should be the primary photo for the listing.

Another tool he uses corrects typos and reconfigures the language of blog posts he dictates while driving. After reviewing the post, he hits “publish.” In the homes themselves, a smart lock system generates new codes for the locks every two weeks.

“Within smaller markets, AI is still useful,” he says. “You just have to be more personalized in your approach with the technology.”

INDUSTRY

THE PLAY STRATEGY: BIG DATA, PREDICTABILITY ALGORITHMS

A fledgling collaboration between chemical manufacturer BASF and LSU in the use of artificial intelligence technology could expand in the coming months. Kerr Wall, digitalization manager at BASF’s monomers division in Geismar, says the collaborative team recently applied for $300,000 in grants from the National Science Foundation and the Louisiana Board of Regents’ Industrial Ties Research Subprogram.

That’s in addition to the initial funding BASF put up to initiate the collaboration. If awarded, the new grant money would expand the AI initiative by paving the way for full-time graduate students to work as BASF interns.

Since 2022, BASF has been working with LSU chemical engineers to better understand and predict its own production ebbs and flows. Wall and Eric Dixon, a digitalization expert at BASF, meet regularly with José Romagnoli and Xun Tang, professors in LSU’s chemical engineering department, to go over their results.

“BASF has a lot of production data, but it can be a challenge to understand the underlying dynamics,” Tang says. “Through this collaborative project, we can learn directly from the data to identify patterns. Then we can use what we learned to predict new conditions to optimize and maintain the operation of the system. This way, we can help BASF automate and optimize their plant, and also improve the yield and quality of their product while reducing costs.”

BASF has already made significant headway in creating a streamlined approach to predicting quality or process outcomes through the identification of data “clusters.” Ram Krishna, a chemical engineer participating in BASF’s professional development program for engineers, is performing much of the legwork. “We had a hypothesis that said if we can split our process data into clusters (smaller data sets) we should be able to make better models and predict outcomes with higher accuracy,” Dixon says.

They are then using those models to make recommendations, by word of mouth, to various process units within the Geismar plant. BASF hopes to eventually use clustering algorithms to determine the optimal cluster model, then input the data into the model. That will, in turn, enable BASF to better predict output variables or suggest optimization parameters.

BASF could apply the approach to a variety of its processes, such as steam usage, wastewater creation, wastewater quality, etc., as well as use AI to achieve sustainability goals. “This would be useful in all 20-plus BASF plants and could have a significant impact on the optimization of our processes,” Wall says. “Chemical manufacturing is complex. Operating conditions can change minute to minute and there is a lot of data to mine. Big data gives a great opportunity to optimize our processes and become more predictive to improve our yields and our utility usage.

“This will make us more energy efficient and support our global value of producing chemicals for a sustainable future.”

AI TIPS FOR YOUR BUSINESS

1. It’s all in the prompt: Learn why prompts are so important why it comes to AI and how to cater to their language models.

2. AI has arrived. Here’s how to adapt your workforce: Read about what areas of your business AI can help you in and how to implement it.

3. Installing the guardrails: Learn what to consider when writing your company’s policy on AI. There are certain rules you might want to put in place.

4. AI on AI: How might AI reshape business in 2024?: We asked Chat GPT what industries it thinks it can provide help in. Learn what the technology has to say about itself.

What should a company consider in writing its policy on artificial intelligence? No matter the approach, the policy should be malleable, since it’s impossible to predict what the future holds for the rapidly evolving technology.

“When it comes to AI, we’re in the bottom of the first inning, or maybe top of the second,” says Henry Hays, owner of DisruptReady in Baton Rouge. “The speed at which this is happening is breakneck, so a corporate policy can become out of date in a relatively brief amount of time.”

Nevertheless, establishing some guardrails that are uniquely tailored to your organization is imperative. No two companies are alike, so an AI policy should be specific to a company’s particular needs. Here are some pointers.

Be forward thinking

A corporate policy should allow for malleability in the use of AI, addressing things such as structure, technology, processes, metrics, culture and talent acquisition. “You should establish parameters that allow AI to evolve within your organization,” says Andrew Schwarz, a professor in LSU’s E.J. Ourso College of Business.

Identify potential cybersecurity issues

The security of your data is easily the most important issue to address. You should determine your level of security, particularly if using proprietary information to generate output. “AI products such as Open AI, Stable Diffusion and Claude are all ‘in the wild,’ meaning your data will be in the public domain,” Hays says. “In most cases, that’s a hard stop for most companies.”

Establish use rules for employees and leadership

Identify what employees and leadership can and can’t do with AI. “You should specifically identify what AI can and can’t be used for, and whether or not it should be credited when used,” Hays says. “In the legal field, for example, would we want to know if an attorney uses AI in preparing their briefings, court filings, etc.? Those are questions being bandied about right now.”

Create a framework for algorithm auditing

Establish protocols for auditing AI algorithms to avoid inaccurate outputs, also known as  “hallucinations.” Most corporations will use outsourced products, so their ability to audit will be somewhat limited. However, that changes when using custom-made algorithms. “You should mitigate ‘hallucinations’ as much as possible in your results,” Hays says.

Identify tasks for automation

There should be some clear guardrails around which processes or tasks can be automated, and which cannot. Automation implies that a task is performed entirely without human involvement. Recognize that AI can help optimize efficiency, but be careful of replacing people or quality. “Think about how much your business relies on human interaction,” says Emergent Method partner John Snow. “Be careful about using AI to replace core services. It may be incorporated but it’s not a one-to-one replacement. Think of AI as being an additive and supportive instead of replacing. In general, recognize the opportunity, but proceed with caution.”

Identify tasks for augmentation

In the same vein, there should be guidance around which processes or tasks can be augmented or enhanced with AI, and which cannot. “The thing that businesses really need to think about when it comes to AI is to not start thinking, ‘We have to use this,’ or that it’s a silver bullet,” Snow says. “Think about the things that employees and teams spend time on, or struggle with, and ways that task can be done more efficiently—like data analysis and idea generation. It’s about identifying the problem instead of just jumping to the solution, not just using technology to use technology.”

Address regulatory compliance

As federal regulations around AI are formulated, corporations will need to establish policies to ensure compliance. “We are headed toward more regulation in this field, so the markets will need to adjust,” Hays says.

Create a digital assets team

No matter its size, a company should establish guidelines for the creation of an internal digital assets team. Ideally, the team should comprise a small group of employees genuinely interested in emerging technologies. “A digital assets team can help your company craft its approach and strategy to AI,” Hays says. “As a benefit, you can move and adapt with changes. For a small- to medium-sized company, it can actually become a strength over larger companies who are often slow to change. Having such a team is also a great way to attract the younger generation.”

Identify education and training needs

Establish the means and methods for training your workforce in AI, specific to each employee’s role. Ultimately, everyone will need a certain level of training. “We’re about to undergo the greatest change we’ve ever seen in the way we do work,” Hays says.

Holly Duchmann contributed to this report.

The effectiveness of AI depends largely upon a company’s ability to “prompt” the technology to produce the desired output. As such, the fledgling field of prompt engineering is playing an increasingly important role in the AI space.

Prompt engineers are skilled at instructing AI “large language models” to perform various tasks. LLMs are algorithms that can recognize, summarize, translate, predict and generate content using very large datasets.

Colin Raby (left), a senior mechanical engineering student and AI researcher in LSU’s Ogden Honors College, has developed a passion for engineering prompts in such tools as ChatGPT, OpenAI, Stable Diffusion 2 and others. Raby has honed his skill set as a student in one of the nation’s first classes to teach students about LLMs, through the LSU Honors College.

Raby offers these tips for crafting AI prompts to achieve optimal outcomes.

Be specific. The more precise the input language and the more context you provide, the better the output. AI is trained on a vast repository of human knowledge and can interpret that data in millions of ways. “Imagine you’re talking to a new intern who is intelligent and knows a lot of things, but has no frame of reference,” he says. “The more specific the information you provide, the better the AI tool can help you.”

Give context to the request by telling the AI tool who it is, also known as the “persona pattern.” “If you’re a business leader wanting new marketing tactics,” Raby says, “you could prompt the tool by saying, ‘You are an expert in marketing my product online. Currently our business is advertised on Facebook and our website, and we want to expand our sales by 200 percent in the next year. What are some ideas I can use to market our products?’”

Avoid the negative. Tell the AI tool what you want it to do, not what you don’t want it to do. That’s because it might inadvertently ignore the negative instruction and focus on the very thing you don’t want it to do. Instead, stick with
the positive.

Instruct the AI tool to ask questions should it require further clarification, also known as a “call and response pattern.” By doing so, you’re giving it permission to ask for more information that will enable it to provide a more valuable output. You might also tell it to restate the purpose of the prompt to ensure that it is interpreting the request correctly. “It’s not a search engine; it’s more of a conversational assistant that works best with two-way communication,”
Raby says.

Quantity makes quality. The more information you provide the tool about what you want, the better result you’ll get. That gives the tool the ability to provide more specific answers based upon the information that you’ve provided. “For example, if you need help creating LinkedIn posts, upload the last 20 LinkedIn posts that you made, in the same style, and the result will be exponentially closer to the way that you want it,” he says.

Get creative. These tools haven’t been around for long, so many of AI’s capabilities remain unknown. Practice makes perfect—the more you use AI, the more you’ll become familiar with its capabilities. Perhaps begin with tasks that aren’t time critical. It might not work well in the beginning, but you’ll get better at interacting with the tool and learn what it can do.

How will artificial intelligence impact business in 2024? Who better to ask than AI itself? In mid-November, we asked GPT-4 to highlight ways AI might leave its mark on these 10 business sectors in the coming year. Its response came with this self-generated disclaimer: “Each of these sectors will likely face unique challenges and opportunities as they integrate AI into their operations. The specifics will depend on the advancements in AI technology, regulatory frameworks, and the sectors’ readiness to adopt these changes.”

Banking and Financial Services

• Enhanced customer experience through personalized financial advice using AI-driven chatbots.

• Improved fraud detection and security using AI algorithms that can detect anomalies.

• Streamlined operations and cost savings from automated processes and decision-making.

Oil and Gas

• Increased operational efficiency through predictive maintenance of equipment.

• Enhanced oil exploration with AI algorithms analyzing geological data to predict new oil field locations.

• Optimization of fuel supply chains with AI-powered logistics.

Petrochemical

• AI will likely contribute to better demand forecasting and production planning.

• Enhanced safety with AI monitoring systems detecting potential hazards.

• Improved efficiency in the chemical manufacturing process using AI to optimize conditions.

Construction

• Project management advancements using AI to predict project delays and optimize resource allocation.

• Safety improvements with AI surveillance monitoring job sites.

• Cost savings through AI-driven predictive maintenance of construction machinery.

Retail

• Personalized shopping experiences with AI analyzing shopping behaviors to predict customer needs.

• Inventory management optimizations using AI to predict stock levels.

• Automation of customer service with AI chatbots.

Health Care

• Improved diagnostic accuracy with AI algorithms interpreting medical images.

• Personalized treatment plans generated by AI based on patient data.

• Streamlining administrative tasks in health care facilities using AI for more efficiency.

Manufacturing

• Increased efficiency through AI-powered automation and robotics on production lines.

• Predictive maintenance to minimize downtime.

• Quality control enhancements with AI visual inspection systems.

Real Estate

• AI-driven property valuation models improving accuracy in pricing.

• Enhanced customer service with virtual AI assistants for property viewing.

• Predictive analytics to identify real estate market trends.

Insurance

• AI for personalized insurance products based on customer data analytics.

• Faster claims processing through AI, leading to improved customer satisfaction.

• Fraud detection improvements using AI pattern recognition.

Technology

• Acceleration of innovation with AI assisting in research and development.

• AI ethics and governance will likely become a major focus, with AI being used to audit and ensure compliance with standards.

• Enhanced cybersecurity with AI systems identifying and responding to threats in real time.

As businesses across all industries increasingly embrace AI, integrating these cutting-edge technologies and reskilling the workforce for their use have emerged as critical priorities. This guide offers a rough road map for companies aiming to drive innovation and enhance productivity with AI.

Step 1: Identify the areas where AI implementation might be most beneficial.

Begin by conducting a comprehensive analysis of your company’s workflow to pinpoint specific areas that could benefit from AI integration.

According to John Snow of Emergent Method, a local consulting firm that has assisted some of its clients with AI adoption, you should first look for tasks that are repetitive, time-consuming or require complex data analysis, as these tasks are more likely to benefit from automation.

“Hone in on the things that take a lot of time and effort to pull off,” Snow says.

Step 2: Identify the right AI tools for your needs.

Research and evaluate technologies that align with the areas you identified in Step 1, considering factors like compatibility with existing systems, scalability and user-friendliness. This will take some time, but it’s important to be thorough at this stage.

Also, temper your expectations. “You shouldn’t expect AI tools to be able to do your work with 100% accuracy or fully replace what a person or team can do,” Snow says.

Step 3: Warm your employees up to the use of AI through education and engagement.

Conduct training sessions and workshops to educate your employees about the benefits of the AI tools selected in Step 2, encouraging open discussion along the way.

It’s possible that some employees will be resistant to the change. According to Andrew Schwarz, a professor at LSU’s E.J. Ourso College of Business who teaches a course on AI, effective top-down messaging is crucial in such cases.

“The messaging should be that you’re trying to ‘upskill’ your employees and put them in a place where they can add even more value to the organization,” Schwarz says.

Step 4: Continue to learn and adapt.

The AI field is constantly evolving, so it’s important that your employees stay abreast of the latest developments and continue to refine the skills they need to use the technologies effectively—a skill set that Schwarz calls “AI literacy.”

What works best for your company today may not be what works best in the years to come. Encourage a culture of innovation in which employees will be empowered to explore new ways of leveraging AI, and establish a feedback mechanism that allows those employees to share their experiences and insights.

Sponsored by Baton Rouge Alliance for Students

After unveiling a hugely successful grant program last year, the Baton Rouge Alliance for Students more than doubled its impact in 2023 with local nonprofit organizations receiving $215,000 in funding this year. That brings the total investment by the Alliance over the past two years to $450,000.

Through its Community Building Grants, the Alliance is aiming to forge strong partnerships with other community organizations that share a similar mission of improving the quality of life for Baton Rouge students.

The Community Building Grant awards for 2023 range in value from $2,000 to $25,000 and are tailored to each organization’s needs. The grants support six priority areas selected by the Alliance. Those areas include:

Equity: Projects demonstrate the Alliance’s commitment to diversity, equity and inclusion.

Student growth and development: Efforts provide services and support for students and families.

Leadership development: Programming encourages the development of a diverse pipeline of community leaders.

Family and community voice: Programming encourages the development of community advocacy.

Youth empowerment: Projects provide opportunities for the elevation of student voices.

Out-of-school time: Programming impacts after-school and summer learning experiences.

In 2022, the grant program’s first year, eight organizations received a total of $100,000 to support their work. In 2023, with more awareness of the program, nearly 100 agencies applied and 19 received funding, including agencies who had been funded the previous year.

To continue the strong momentum of the previous year and reach even more groups, the Alliance, led by CEO Adonica Duggan, opted to significantly increase funding this year, and that has meant a great deal to the recipient agencies.

Nicole Scott, founder and executive director of The Bridge Agency Inc., says, “Grant funds are the heartbeat of our non-profit, breathing life into our community initiatives and enabling us to turn our mission into impactful action, creating positive change one family at a time.”

Jannean Dixon, CEO and co-founder of Redstick C.A.R.E.S., says the Community Building Grant her agency received allows it to continue programming for its Cares Team, which serves teens and young adults with special needs. “The unique opportunities we provide to these remarkable young people aren’t available anywhere else in our area,” Dixon says.

2023 Community Building Grant Recipients:

• Baton Rouge Youth Coalition
• Blossom
• City Year Baton Rouge
• Fathers On A Mission (F.O.A.M)
• Girls on the Run South Louisiana
• Young Entrepreneurs Academy of Baton Rouge
• Imagination Leads Nonprofit
• Kids’ Orchestra
• Louisiana Youth Seminar
• MetroMorphosis
• Power Pump Girls, Inc.
• Project Big Dot
• Redstick CARES
• The BRidge Agency, INC
• The Center for Literacy & Learning
• The Langston Galloway Foundation
• The Walls Project
• Thrive Foundation
• Volunteers In Public Schools (VIPS)

More information about the work being done by the Baton Rouge Alliance for Students can be found online at bralliance.org. A community impact celebration will be held Dec. 6 to recognize 2023 grant recipients.

Louisiana transportation officials plan to maintain three lanes in each direction during the next stage of the Interstate 10 widening project, the state Department of Transportation and Development announced today. 

Stage two of construction is set to begin in early 2026, DOTD says—a year later than the timeline discussed earlier this year. 

Officials had considered reducing travel lanes from three to two, which spurred concerns at a public meeting DOTD held in March regarding the impact on traffic. Gov.-elect Jeff Landry also weighed in on the subject last year. 

While DOTD plans to maintain three lanes in each direction where there are currently three lanes, periodic lane and/or ramp closures will be necessary during construction. Officials plan to notify the public ahead of any disruptions. 

No changes were announced for the third stage of construction, where maintaining three lanes in each direction was already the plan. Read more about the project here. 

A new federal rule issued Saturday targets the oil and gas industry’s methane emissions, which experts say are a primary culprit in global warming and cost Louisiana millions in lost tax revenue, reports Louisiana Illuminator.

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s new policy requires oil and gas facilities to perform comprehensive monitoring for methane leaks. It also phases in a requirement to eliminate routine flaring of natural gas that new oil wells produce and establishes standards to reduce methane releases from high-emitting sources such as pumps, storage tanks and pneumatic controllers.

Methane is the primary chemical in natural gas and, compared with carbon dioxide, it causes much more harm to the atmosphere in the short term. It traps over 80 times more heat than carbon dioxide over a 20-year period and is responsible for more than 25% of the atmospheric warming the Earth experiences today, according to the United Nations.

In 2019 in Louisiana, oil and gas operators reported 5.1 billion cubic feet of methane wasted through venting and flaring, according to the U.S. Energy Information Administration. On a rough scale, that’s enough to provide electricity to about 121,000 homes for an entire year. 

Methane detection requires expensive infrared imaging equipment or satellite imagery. It’s unclear how much more is wasted through leaky valves, poorly sealed pipe threads and orphaned wells, but researchers have found numerous methane plumes bubbling up from offshore rigs

Earlier this year, the Louisiana Department of Natural Resources proposed a new state rule to prohibit routine venting and flaring of methane from production facilities. The proposed rule is still being finalized and has an “earliest effective date” of Jan. 20, 2024.

Read the full story. 

Under scrutiny: U.S. antitrust enforcers are investigating ExxonMobil’s plan to acquire Pioneer Natural Resources, which would be the largest oil-and-gas deal in two decades, according to securities filings. Read more from The Wall Street Journal. 

‘Cost plus’ model: CVS Health is overhauling how it pays for drugs, saying it will use a more “transparent” model that could reduce secrecy around drug prices. The so-called “cost plus” model is similar to that being used by Mark Cuban’s Cost Plus Drugs, a direct-to-consumer model. Read more from Axios. 

Layoffs looming: Wells Fargo is looking at spending nearly $1 billion in severance pay in the fourth quarter because of low staff turnover. The expense is an accrual for worker layoffs expected next year. Read more from CNBC. 

About two out of every three East Baton Rouge Parish residents have trouble paying their monthly bills, while about three out of four would not feel confident that they could cover an unexpected $2,000 expense, according to the Baton Rouge Area Foundation’s annual CityStats report. 

The survey also found that 42% of residents think the parish is headed in the wrong direction—which BRAF says represents the fewest number of people with that opinion since CityStats began asking five years ago—compared to 31% who say it’s going in the right direction and 27% who didn’t answer or said they didn’t know. The survey found 57% of residents feel the pace of progress is too slow, compared to 70% last year. 

Other takeaways from the report: 

• For the second year in a row, EBR experienced positive net migration, with 2,131 more people moving into the parish than out in 2022.
• Unemployment in 2022 was 3.2%, the lowest rate in 20 years.
• One in four Black residents in the parish is poor, compared to one in 10 white residents. 
• Only 4% of residents say they expect to inherit $10,000 or more. 
• Almost 91% of parish residents have at least a high school diploma, while more than 38% have a bachelor’s degree. Both numbers exceed state averages and are about the same as the corresponding national rates.
• The number of passengers flying into or out of the Baton Rouge Metro Airport jumped 25% year over year.
• Reducing crime was the most often cited improvement to make Baton Rouge more appealing to newcomers. 
• The average commute to work is 24 minutes. 
• About half of 3- and 4-year-olds attended pre-kindergarten, up from last year but well below average enrollment over the past decade. 

BRAF hired the Baton Rouge Area Chamber to gather public data, while LJR Custom Strategies handled the companion survey, which was conducted in early August and has a 4.3% margin of error. 

You can read the full report here. 

ExxonMobil CEO Darren Woods’ first five years with the company were marred by missed oil production targets, an investor rebellion and the company’s biggest-ever financial loss.

Redemption came this year when—aided by a share price pumped up by high oil prices—he clinched a $60 billion deal to buy shale rival Pioneer Natural Resources.

Now, Reuters reports, he faces his biggest challenge as he executes a strategy to compete for investors demanding high returns and lower greenhouse gas emissions.

His plan aims to balance profits from cheaper barrels of oil closer to home, like Guyana’s vast offshore oil fields, with a risky multibillion-dollar promise to create and sell decarbonizing services at margins akin to oil.

Woods has set for himself a short four years to deliver on his latest strategy, according to Reuters interviews with Exxon executives, former employees, investors and partners.

The executive plans to lay out to investors a new era for Exxon on Wednesday, when he updates the company’s capital spending plans and production curve to incorporate his recent goals.

That future includes pumping more than 4.4 million barrels of oil per day (bpd) by 2027, a goal that requires new technology to squeeze an extra 700,000 bpd or more from its existing shale wells.

He is expected to offer Wall Street an updated budget for addressing methane leaks as well as the impact of a waning future for motor fuels and the rise of hydrogen fuels and battery-powered electric vehicles, costly issues with no simple solutions.

Read the full story. 

U.S. employers posted 8.7 million job openings in October, the fewest since March 2021, in a sign that hiring is cooling in the face of higher interest rates yet remains at a still-healthy pace, reports the Associated Press.

The Labor Department’s report said Tuesday that openings were down significantly from 9.4 million in September.

Layoffs were up modestly in October. And the number of Americans who quit their jobs —which generally reflects confidence in their ability to find better pay or working conditions elsewhere—was down slightly.

The drop in job openings last month was particularly steep in health care and social assistance, where they fell by 236,000. Finance, which includes banking, insurance and real estate and which has been hit particularly hard by higher interest rates, was down 217,000.

Still, despite the sharp drop in October, job openings remain at historically high levels. They have now exceeded 8 million for 32 straight months—a threshold they had never reached before 2021.

While hiring is slowing from the breakneck pace of the past two years, employers have still added a solid 239,000 jobs a month this year. And the unemployment rate has come in below 4% for 21 straight months, the longest such streak since the 1960s.

Read the full story. 

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The new Senate Republican delegation will meet for the first time in Baton Rouge next Thursday, the same day as the annual Capitol Christmas party in Memorial Hall. Our state senators are certainly hoping for a bit of cheer, but they’ll unlikely unwrap a bit of politics as well.

Just like House Republicans did this week, GOP senators will vote on their next slate of internal officers, including Senate majority leader (interchangeable with the title of delegation chair) next week.

While new and returning House Republicans spent some time this week nominating a speaker and speaker pro tem as well, current Senate GOP Delegation Chair Sharon Hewitt of Slidell said those in the upper chamber will have a “primary agenda item” of electing delegation officers.

Several members interviewed for this column expect a strong bid for Senate majority leader from Sen. Jeremy Stine of Lake Charles. On the House side, as previously reported in this space, Rep. Mark Wright of Covington was an early favorite for House majority leader and was elected to the post this week.

Wright has been in office since 2017 and Stine became a senator in 2021. Neither are facing term limits as they return to the Capitol and both should serve as a political reminder that seniority and clout are no longer exclusively reserved for third-termers. 

As for the top gavels in the Legislature, the nomination of Eunice Rep. Phillip DeVillier for speaker was a formality this week. Although representatives would have been allowed to proceed with a secret ballot process, no one else was nominated.

Across Memorial Hall, Jefferson Parish Sen. Cameron Henry remains the president designee—thanks in no small part to his close relationship with Gov.-elect Jeff Landry. DeVillier, too, is an ally of the incoming Landry administration, setting the stage for the governor-elect to direct and star in Capitoland’s policymaking.  

Landry’s influence over the legislative process will be undeniable. He endorsed Henry early, before opposition could solidify, and he quietly leaned toward DeVillier without rocking the proverbial pirogue. Whether Landry continues to approach legislative relations with a soft touch remains to be seen, but so far lawmakers appreciate the lack of acrimony that defined the past two terms of state government.

That “Kumbaya” vibe also extended into the nomination of Rep. Mike Johnson of Pineville for speaker pro tem. Johnson was the politico who floated the idea of a speaker nomination vote, as a way to avoid a bloody floor battle. Landry backed the idea from the start, and Johnson is now in line to snag a spot in the leadership.

On the Democratic side of the coin in the House, Rep. Matthew Willard of New Orleans will serve as the new Democratic Caucus chair in the new term. The incoming House minority leader is also wrapping up his first term in office—yet another sign of the redistribution of power in Baton Rouge. 

Willard sees an opportunity for Democrats to be policy-driven. He said the Caucus would work to “lower insurance premiums, raise wages, improve education, ensure equal pay for equal work and make our communities safer.”

The organizational session of the Legislature, which will host formal votes for House speaker and Senate president, is scheduled for Jan. 8.

A business-backed national group has once again labeled Louisiana a “judicial hellhole,” claiming the legal climate costs the state’s economy billions. 

The American Tort Reform Foundation expressed “cautious optimism” that Gov.-elect Jeff Landry will be more sympathetic to its views than Gov. John Bel Edwards, though Landry, like Edwards, was elected with significant support from trial lawyers.

Louisiana has been on the ATRF’s annual list for more than a decade, checking in at No. 7 on this year’s version. Among its complaints is Edwards’ veto of legislation that would have required disclosure of third-party litigation funding. 

“Without these disclosure requirements, the financial interests and influence of third-party funders likely will remain hidden from courts and juries,” the group says in a statement announcing this year’s list.

In his veto message, Edwards called the proposal a pretense to give large corporations and insurance companies a litigation advantage, adding that it would have required only plaintiffs to disclose their financing arrangements. 

“The only beneficiaries of this would be wrongdoers who can simply outlast victims because they have greater financial resources,” he argued. 

The ATRF also cited ongoing litigation that seeks to hold oil-and-gas companies responsible for environmental damage to Louisiana’s coastal region, among other issues. Lawsuit abuse costs residents more than $1,100 per resident annually while depriving the state of almost 50,000 jobs, the group claims, adding that changing the legal system could add more than $5 billion to the state’s gross product. 

Booted: Louisiana removed nearly 200,000 people from its Medicaid rolls over a five-month period from June to October—about a quarter of which were children—as the state complies with renewed federal standards. Read more from Louisiana Illuminator. 

Your honor: The Supreme Court on Tuesday will take up a case that is widely seen as a test of a never-enacted tax on wealth. The decision could strike down a provision of the 2017 tax bill that is expected to bring in $340 billion, threaten other provisions of the tax code and rule out a wealth tax. Read more from the Associated Press. 

Expansion: Security company Gutsy on Tuesday announced it has launched a major platform expansion. The company recently raised a $51 million seed round to establish its headquarters in Baton Rouge. Read more. 

In what marks its third expansion in 2023, Baton Rouge-based commercial real estate brokerage firm Elifin is opening a new location in the Chase Tower in downtown Lafayette. 

Brandon Abdella, a Broussard native who specializes in industrial sales and leasing, will be the firm’s first agent.

This will be Elifin’s fourth office, expanding from current locations in Baton Rouge, New Orleans and Columbus, Ohio.

“The demand for us to do business in Acadiana from our existing clients and prospective clients has increased exponentially, indicating that it was clearly time for us to establish a permanent presence in the market,” says President and CEO Mathew Laborde. “I was born and raised in Lafayette, so taking Elifin to my hometown was always on my mind. It’s just been a matter of the right timing and the right team.” 

In March, Business Report recognized Elifin as a 2023 Company of the Year. The homegrown firm has grown exponentially since Laborde opened it in 2016.

Generative AI has the potential to impact 44% of all working hours across top industries, creating entirely new paths for reinventing enterprises, a new analysis detailed in Harvard Business Review concludes.

Accenture researchers analyzed the potential impact of large language models (LLMs) on how workers spend time on tasks across 19 major industries, weighted by their 2022 employment levels.

The largest opportunity lies in banking, the Accenture researchers note, finding that 72% of working hours can potentially be transformed by generative AI. In insurance, the impact is 68%; in capital markets, 67%. The found industries in the middle of the pack, such as retail, travel, health, and energy, the number of working hours that generative AI could potentially transform ranged from 40% to nearly 50%. 

Overall, the study discovered impact in every category, ranging from 9% of a workday at the low end to 63% at the high end. In five of the 22 categories they examined, more than half of working hours can be transformed by LLMs.

“The potential is unprecedented—the technology not only transforms routine work, but brings the power of AI to creative and knowledge work, putting companies in position to achieve not only great gains in productivity, but also to create entirely new paths for enterprise reinvention,” the Accenture researchers note in the Harvard Business Review story.

They recommend companies be realistic about the challenges that come with “profoundly rethinking how the organization works,” investing as much in evolving operations and training workers as they do in technology. 

“Radically rethinking how work gets done, and helping people keep up with technology-driven change, will be two of the most important factors in realizing the full potential of generative AI,” they write. “Nearly every job will be impacted—some will be eliminated, most will be transformed, and many new jobs will be created.”

Read the full story and get recommendations for reinventing jobs, reconstituting processes and refocusing talent. A subscription may be required.

Operating over 170 parks, it is BREC’s mission to contribute to a healthier, more vibrant community by providing exceptional parks, open spaces and recreational experiences for the residents of East Baton Rouge Parish. The Chief Financial Officer has full accountability for fulfilling BREC’s established mission, vision, and objectives in directing all financial activities of the Commission’s funds. This executive level position is responsible for planning, developing, and administering broad financial policies and procedural improvements throughout the organization. If you want to make East Baton Rouge Parish a better place to live, work and play, please apply here.

Now available for sale, 8801 Bluebonnet Blvd. is a high-visibility standalone office building at the signalized intersection of Bluebonnet Boulevard and N. Oak Hills Parkway, which sees approximately 18,635 daily traffic. The corner property enjoys ±327 feet of total frontage, presenting an opportunity to utilize prominent monument signage, and enjoys ±5-minute access to I-10 and ±2-minute access to Perkins Road and Highland Road. The ±0.75-acre lot provides ample parking with room for additional spaces, and a new roof was recently installed on the building. The adjacent property, 8821 Bluebonnet Blvd, is also available for purchase. Call Fabian Edwards at 985.974.8301 for more information. Click here to view listing.