On Oct. 16, 2025, Commodities People hosted "AI at the Tipping Point," a webinar that explored why inaction is now the biggest operational risk facing commodity trading firms. Howard Walker, CP’s CEO Americas, moderated a lively panel discussion that included Nate Branscom, COO of 61 Commodities; Michelle Bruce, Partner at Optimus; and me.
What emerged from the discussion—and from live polling of the audience—is that most firms are caught between the challenges associated with AI adoption and the risk of falling behind. I wanted to share some highlights from the discussion, but I encourage you to watch the full webinar.
Industry leaders agree that AI is an imperative in commodity operations, and manual processes increase risk. As expectations of speed and accuracy increase, adopting AI is becoming a baseline for operational resilience, competitiveness, and talent retention. ClearDox provides commodity-specific AI that enables faster decisions, reduces manual exposure, and brings clarity to the full commodities lifecycle. We brought our perspective on the challenges and their solutions to a live debate hosted by Commodities People.
The shift to AI is happening faster than expected. Here is what live polls during the webinar revealed:
Nate’s experience showed how AI creates its own business case: "A lot of our employees had these positive personal interactions with AI, mostly through the chatbots. People were realizing that this is a really powerful tool, and it sparked curiosity to say, 'What can we do to leverage that on the business side?'"
Watch the recording to hear what the panel thought about the risk of not adopting AI-enabled processes—I thought this was one of the most critical points.
Michelle identified six risk areas associated with manual versus AI-enabled processes within commodities operations:
| 🧠 1. Strategic & Competitive | Firms that don’t adopt AI risk falling behind peers and losing top talent. |
| ⚙️ 2. Operational | Manual workflows introduce errors, delays, and blind spots. |
| 🔐 3. Data Security & Governance | Unstructured data is harder to secure and govern without automation. |
| 👥 4. Human & Cultural | Teams expect modern tools — lack of AI adoption hurts hiring and morale. |
| 💰 5. Financial Exposure | Delayed or incorrect data impacts P&L and hedging strategies. |
| 📄 6. Contract Complexity | Shifts in language can silently change cost or compliance obligations. |
The discussion also touched on suggestions for AI adoption.
"We try to start small or think about the small along with the big,” Nate explained. "It's hard to find the big bang that's going to make us 50% more efficient right away. But… smaller, more actionable things, when you put them all together, they can make a big difference."
"Use your network," Nate advised. "By talking to people you know and trust who have gone through things, you get some great ideas."
Michelle agreed: "Most people really want to share what they've learned and are looking to create a virtuous cycle of communication."
Understand your pain points and develop use cases for solving them. This will help you determine if AI truly offers advantages.
"Everybody at a commodity trading shop has gone through a CTRM upgrade or implementation, and that's associated with fear and pain," said Nate. "We don't want it to be something like that."
His firm positioned AI as an exciting opportunity. "AI is a tool, something that could supplement what you do today and make your life better," Nate explained.
This is a key decision, especially for larger firms. Michelle said AI could be a strategic differentiator for firms but agreed with the panel that many just want a utility to drive efficiency.
"Am I looking at something that’s my competitive advantage that I really need to keep close to the vest?" she said. "Or is it a utility program that everyone has and I'm just trying to get more efficiency?"
"We want people doing the most value-add, the most creative or rewarding thing they can do in their position, and taking out the more manual or clerical pieces," Nate explained. "If you're getting a stack of emails and opening each invoice, saving it to a file, you don't sit back and say, 'I've reached the pinnacle of efficiency.'"
Michelle added that AI can help with talent retention. "We see candidates who don't want to go to an organization that may be behind and not be as innovative," she said.
The panelists offered practical guidance on embedding AI into your firm’s culture.
Tracking whether AI adoption is actually delivering the intended results is important. I recommended defining key KPIs early. This guides teams, makes adoption smoother, and will help users clearly see the value of new tools.
Firms making progress with AI adoption recognize that the greatest risk isn't implementing AI imperfectly. It's not implementing it at all.
As we approach 2026, the panel was unambiguous that this is not a year to wait and see. "You're going to be behind the curve, and it takes time to catch up—like compounding interest. If you don't start early, it just takes you that much longer to fill the gap," said Michelle.
Watch the full webinar for more insights or schedule a demo to see how ClearDox uses AI to automate your back-office processes.