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Upcycling and Upskilling With AI: Goodwill's Steve Preston

> We bring in about 5 billion pounds of goods every year. And those are largely kept out of the waste stream.

Show: Me, Myself, and AI · Publisher: MIT Sloan Management Review + BCG · Host: Sam Ransbotham, Shervin Khodabandeh

Episode URL: https://sloanreview.mit.edu/audio/upcycling-and-upskilling-with-ai-goodwills-steve-preston

Publish date: 2025-04-29
Duration: NAs
Default source credibility: HIGH — MIT SMR + BCG joint production. Named F500 CxOs on-record about production AI deployments. Academic/consulting co-brand keeps claims disciplined. Host has light BCG framing; guest metrics stay HIGH.

  • Goodwill Industries uses AI to optimize sorting, distribution, and recycling of 5 billion pounds of goods annually.
  • Goodwill’s AI initiatives include computer vision for textile recycling and AI-driven workforce development programs.
  • Goodwill partners with Google to provide 200,000 people with core AI skills, enhancing job training and placement.

Extracted quotes

# Credibility Speaker Org Timestamp Topic Quote
1 HIGH Steve Preston (CEO) Goodwill Industries 02:00 01-ai-native-landscape We bring in about 5 billion pounds of goods every year. And those are largely kept out of the waste stream.
2 HIGH Steve Preston (CEO) Goodwill Industries 08:54 02-corporate-tools We have a large grant from Google right now with the goal of providing 200,000 people with core AI skills.
3 HIGH Steve Preston (CEO) Goodwill Industries 09:39 07-adoption-challenges We supported about 1.7 million people in job centers last year. And we have 140,000 employees.

Per-quote detail

1. Steve Preston — Goodwill Industries (02:00)

We bring in about 5 billion pounds of goods every year. And those are largely kept out of the waste stream.

  • Stat: 5 billion pounds of goods, YEAR, measured by Goodwill Industries
  • Credibility: HIGH — Named exec with specific metric and unscripted interview.
  • Topic tag: 01-ai-native-landscape

2. Steve Preston — Goodwill Industries (08:54)

We have a large grant from Google right now with the goal of providing 200,000 people with core AI skills.

  • Stat: 200,000 people, YEAR, measured by Goodwill Industries
  • Credibility: HIGH — Named exec with specific metric and unscripted interview.
  • Topic tag: 02-corporate-tools

3. Steve Preston — Goodwill Industries (09:39)

We supported about 1.7 million people in job centers last year. And we have 140,000 employees.

  • Stat: 1.7 million people, YEAR, measured by Goodwill Industries
  • Credibility: HIGH — Named exec with specific metric and unscripted interview.
  • Topic tag: 07-adoption-challenges

Extracted 2026-04-14T22:11:58 via scripts/podcast_mine.py (MLX mlx-community/Qwen2.5-32B-Instruct-4bit).