We live in a world where communication has never been easier—and yet somehow, it’s never felt more filtered.
Emails read like legal disclaimers. Messages are polished to perfection. Conversations are no longer conversations—they’re often AI-assisted, AI-written, or at least AI-reviewed.
Hi, my name is Kelly-Mae, and what you just read was AI generated.
The long hyphens and the American English always give it away. Yes, I can tell when I’m on the receiving end of a ChatGPT reply.
ChatGPT is an everyday thing for me now, and there is no going back (at least not for me). It makes me feel like J.K Rowling – my emails start reading like the next Harry Potter novel. It’s like using the ‘synonyms’ dropdown on a word document – but on steroids.
But with every quick fix, through every short cut, what could be lost?
Even the simplest of emails, there’s now an urge to run them through AI just to make sure everything makes sense, is polite, is clear and simplified.
Pausing, reflecting, or a simple “Um”, the human response that we are slowly moving away from. I miss the emotion, the flaws, the realness of somebody asking me “I NEED A BLOODY TRUCK!”
In Transport, real conversation matters. A driver’s quick judgment call, a frustrated phone call from a customer, working out a way to fix a job that’s gone sideways.
Are we still thinking for ourselves?
In the wins, and in the failures, I don’t want a reply that has been ‘generated’, I want one that’s been thought about.
To the next 20 something year old that steps into the Trucking Industry, I often wonder if they will get the same opportunity to experience what I have. Booking 70 + jobs a day, having 70 + different conversations with 70 real people. The satisfaction of humans working together like a chain to book and allocate hundreds of deliveries across SEQ each and every day.
It is only a matter of time before AI takes a full leap into the Transport Industry, producing systems that will do it all in seconds. Humans have become very good at this over history. From carts, boats and railways to the first truck being built in 1896 which had a payload of 1.5 tonnes and was powered by a 4 horsepower 2-cylinder engine.
If we have gone from this…
The first truck in the world built by Gottlieb Daimler in 1896
To this…
Team Transport & Logistics 2024 Kenworth T610 SAR | AKA one of the coolest trucks gettin’ around these days.
When I asked my 19-year-old brother Lewis what he thought, he had a giggle and said something clever: “People probably felt the same way when they started booking transport on emails, instead of on the phone. Or even better, imagine before anyone had a phone.”
Now that is just insane to think about. Someone walking into the depot or even sending a letter to book a job. Computers only really took the wheel in the 90s, when Transport Management Systems emerged and bookings could be stored digitally.
Though we are no longer using a chalk board, humans are very much involved in all processes. I feel grateful to be a link in that chain.
Just take a moment to visualise how far we’ve come, and where we’re heading.
Image Proudly Produced by ChatGPT
And of course, I cannot fail to mention the fuel of this industry, that is our drivers.
Connecting with drivers digitally and through Apps is often the most effective way to communicate. It means real-time updates and keeps everything streamlined. Whether it’s sending job details, tracking progress, uploading photos.
In some cases, however, a phone call is easier. And more often than not, you will find those calls are more than just solving a problem. You are met with your crane operator sharing family news, the B-Double driver just had the best meal of his life, or the Moffatt driver just got her crane license.
Suicide is the second leading cause of death among young Australian Truck Drivers, that’s why keeping human connection alive is imperative.
So where does this leave us?
In a world and industry moving faster than ever, it’s easy to lose the messy and brilliant parts of being human. In Transport, that humanness matters. It matters in every call, every judgement, every moment someone chooses instinct over instruction. Technology will keep changing how we move things, but let’s not forget the people who move them.
“While AI might help us write a perfect sentence, it’s our shared imperfections that keep this industry real.” Kelly-Mae Wilkinson
