Our guest today is Yves Benchimol, CEO and co-founder of WeWard, a free mobile app that turns walking into rewards. Recognized as one of Forbes’ Top 20 French Leaders in 2024, Yves brings over a decade of experience in tech innovation, from machine learning to AI-driven retail solutions.

In this episode, Yves shares why he believes every company — even those that aren’t “AI-first” — should have a Chief AI Officer. He explains how this role enables teams across marketing, support, HR, and product to work more efficiently by building custom AI agents. We dive into how WeWard uses AI as “the best intern” for every employee, practical workflows that yield quick wins, and why engineering skills are crucial for leaders driving AI adoption.

I’m excited to share this conversation on how AI can be embedded across every function of a company, and why starting early is critical for long-term success.

---

About Yves: LinkedIn
About WeWard: Download the app | Instagram

ABOUT ROCKETSHIP HQ: Website | LinkedIn | Newsletter | Youtube | Podcast Website

FULL TRANSCRIPT BELOW
Shamanth Rao

I’m excited to welcome Yves Benchimol to Intelligent Artifice. Yves, welcome to the show.

Yves Benchimol

Hi. Thank you so much. Thank you for having me.

Shamanth Rao

Yeah, Yves, I’m so excited to have you. In part because I think you guys have sustained so much growth through AI, and I’ve been very impressed by how you have adopted and implemented AI across your team, even though you’re not an AI-first product per se. There’s just so much that everyone can learn. I learned a lot even from our preparation call before this, and for all those reasons, I’m excited to have you on the show.

Yves Benchimol

Thank you. Very happy to be here.

Shamanth Rao

Excellent. Something you mentioned during our prep call is that you are going to be hiring a Chief AI Officer, which is a very unusual decision, especially because you’re still relatively small compared to larger companies. Can you tell me more about why you created this role and what success looks like for this person in the first 90 days?

Yves Benchimol

Yeah, sure. I think today every company should have someone owning AI initiatives. As you said, we are not an AI-first company. We’re more of a mobile wellness app, but AI touches every part of our business—product, support, marketing, revenue, even admin. AI can improve performance and scale across teams.

Having someone dedicated to AI is important because it gives every team the ability to scale efficiently without hiring a lot of people. This person will understand the needs of every team and figure out how AI can help. Success, in the first 90 days, is about mapping where AI can improve efficiency, save time, and enhance work quality. Once the mapping is done, the Chief AI Officer will build agents and ensure adoption by the teams.

If, after 90 days, you already have a few agents being used by team members, that’s a success. Communicating this success internally will encourage others to adopt AI as well. So, I see this person as an enabler for everyone in the company—tech and non-tech—to leverage AI agents to work more efficiently.

Shamanth Rao

So it sounds like this person acts almost like an external consultant, embedding with all your teams—product, marketing, customer support—and helping them build agents?

Yves Benchimol

We start with an external person initially. But yes, this person will work with almost every team, one at a time, prioritizing areas where they can have the most impact. Given how fast technology evolves, having someone internally dedicated could also be an option long-term.

Shamanth Rao

And how do you see this person embedding with teams day-to-day? They won’t be the reporting manager for these teams, so they don’t have direct authority. How will they influence adoption?

Yves Benchimol

Internally, we don’t have resistance to using AI. People see it as a tool to do their job faster and focus on what matters most. This person’s role is to understand each team member’s tasks, identify repetitive work, and figure out how AI can help. They’ll decide whether off-the-shelf tools are enough or if custom development is needed. This allows team members to integrate AI without technical constraints, and the officer will iterate until solutions fit perfectly.

Shamanth Rao

Absolutely. Off-the-shelf tools often don’t meet exact needs. On our team, we’ve even written Python code to replace SaaS tools for this reason.

Yves Benchimol

Exactly. That’s why having something customized for our teams is crucial.

Shamanth Rao

You mentioned that building agents is a primary responsibility. Are there specific high-priority agents you anticipate for your teams?

Yves Benchimol

The first step is to map where AI can be applied and identify repetitive tasks. Classic use cases include sales teams analyzing clients and past conversations or HR teams reviewing resumes.

A specific example is our support team. We built an agent connecting internal data, our knowledge base, and user data from the app. This reduced time spent on repetitive queries, increased quality, and improved customer satisfaction. The goal is always to map where AI can have the highest impact because AI cannot solve every issue.

Shamanth Rao

That makes sense. You mentioned hiring someone with engineering skills. Why is it important for this Chief AI Officer to be an engineer rather than a marketer or no-code specialist?

Yves Benchimol

No-code is great for prototyping, but at some point, you need to connect APIs or develop on top of off-the-shelf solutions. If someone can’t code, it becomes a constraint. Having an engineer allows faster development and better understanding of AI capabilities.

Shamanth Rao

That makes total sense. In my experience, no-code gets you 80% of the way, but an engineer is needed for 100% of the solution.

Yves Benchimol

Exactly.

Shamanth Rao

Regarding adoption, have you noticed cultural challenges? Some team members might worry about job displacement or feel unprepared to work with AI.

Yves Benchimol

People see AI as a tool to assist, not replace them. To make them comfortable, we have weekly “demo days” where team members showcase their work, sometimes including how they use AI. We also provide external experts, training, licenses, and budgets to explore tools. My job as CEO is to give them the time and resources to learn AI safely. The goal is to use AI early to maintain a competitive advantage.

Shamanth Rao

So your approach is creating conditions for the team to learn through demos, hackathons, and guidance from experts.

Yves Benchimol

Yes, exactly.

Shamanth Rao

Was there a point when you personally realized AI had to be a priority for the company?

Yves Benchimol

Discovering ChatGPT was a turning point. As an engineer, I was aware of machine learning, but the capabilities of generative AI in the last two years are astounding. Technology is evolving so fast that being early on AI is essential to stay competitive. We’ve trained and hired people specifically for AI adoption, not to develop AI, but to understand and use it. On the product side, we also use AI to personalize the user experience.

Shamanth Rao

And across your teams, AI is actively used? You mentioned AI can be the best intern for every employee. Can you share examples?

Yves Benchimol

Sure. Think of AI as a very smart intern. For HR, it can process resumes and rank candidates efficiently. For support, it connects internal data and knowledge bases to provide automated responses. Marketing uses AI for creative ideas, content testing, and messaging strategies. Every team can benefit, provided the AI is fed the right data.

Shamanth Rao

With so many AI tools emerging daily, how do you keep track of what’s useful for your team?

Yves Benchimol

Curiosity is key. Personally, I subscribe to newsletters, listen to podcasts, and explore tools. Internally, we have demo mandates where team members showcase tools they use and share learnings. The company supports this with resources, budgets, and training, but individuals must also take initiative to stay ahead.

Shamanth Rao

I love that. Your curiosity and approach across the company are impressive. If another company wanted to emulate your approach, what workflows would you recommend automating first?

Yves Benchimol

Start with high-impact, low-effort tasks. Classic use cases like HR or support are easy to implement and widely applicable. Map potential areas, test off-the-shelf solutions, identify limits, and then build custom solutions as needed.

Shamanth Rao

Any go-to resources or newsletters you recommend?

Yves Benchimol

This podcast is a good start. I also read various newsletters about learning and technology, especially for product teams. It’s a strong foundation.

Shamanth Rao

Excellent. Yves, this has been incredible. Thank you for sharing your thinking and processes. Before we wrap up, could you tell folks more about you and how they can find out more about you?

Yves Benchimol

I’m the founder and CEO of a company called WeWard, which is a wellness app that motivates people to go the extra mile and be more active every day. I encourage everyone to download the app if they want to see the work we’re doing at WeWa.

You can also follow me on LinkedIn. We have LinkedIn and Instagram accounts for the company, and you can also follow me personally. My name is Yves Benchimol—Y-V-E-S, the French spelling. I’m quite responsive on LinkedIn, so don’t hesitate to reach out.

Shamanth Rao

That’s perfect. We’ll link all of that in the show notes. Thank you so much for being one of the first guests in the first season of Intelligent Artifice.

Yves Benchimol

Thank you for your time. It’s been a pleasure.