How Bespoke faked AI until it actually worked (w/ Akemi Tsunagawa) | E2320

Akemi Tsunagawa, founder of Bespoke, shares how her travel concierge chatbot started as humans manually answering queries behind the scenes—a 'fake it till you make it' approach that landed Narita Airport as a client. The conversation explores Japan's tourism boom, the accelerating population decline, and how the labor shortage is driving both AI adoption and a reexamination of immigration policy. Akemi describes her thesis: first solve the labor gap with people, then build the technology to automate, exemplified by Bespoke's expansion into shipyard robots. They also discuss the 'akiya' abandoned home renovation trend and the cultural resistance to foreign labor in Japan.