Conversations on Applied AI

The conversation this week is with Caroline Holden. Caroline is a dynamic creative technologist with more than seven years of experience across startups, venture capital, and media in Minneapolis and New York City. She's known for delivering impressive growth, including 10,000% year-over-year sales increase at Mercado, boosting YouTube engagement by 336 % at DataVolo, and amassing 43,000 views on her AI-focused YouTube channel. Caroline's achievements span managing major events like Twin Cities Startup Week, producing award-winning scripts, and driving innovation in strategy operations and marketing. She's collaborated with top brands like MasterCard and Verizon, and has a proven ability to find creative solutions to complex problems. Most recently, she was the growth and marketing manager at DataVolo, which was recently acquired by Snowflake in November. 

If you are interested in learning about how AI is being applied across multiple industries, be sure to join us at a future AppliedAI Monthly meetup and help support us so we can make future Emerging Technologies North non-profit events!

• Emerging Technologies North
• AppliedAI Meetup

Resources and Topics Mentioned in this Episode

• carolineswiftholden.com
• Mercado
• Datavolo
• Minneapolis College of Art and Design
• HomSurfin
• Snowflake
• Bubble
• We Are the Nerds by Christine Lagorio-Chafkin
• Range by David Epstein
• Designing Your Life by Bill Burnett and Dave Evans

Enjoy!

Your host,
Justin Grammens

The conversation this week is with Jean Machart. Jean is a transformation executive leading companies by applying digital and artificial intelligence to create future-forward products, services, and experiences. She enables growth at scale with industry-leading companies, Fortune 5 Healthcare, Fortune 200 Financial Services, and more, and is prepared to lead the next transformation. She's an artificial intelligence entrepreneur in residence at Digital DX Ventures,a  board member at Asbury Communities for Senior Living and HTEC, and recently was a chief operating officer at Children's Cancer Research Fund. Jean holds an MBA in information technology from the Carlson School of Management at the University of Minnesota and completed the “Competing in the Age of Artificial Intelligence” from Harvard Business School's Executive Education Program. 

If you are interested in learning about how AI is being applied across multiple industries, be sure to join us at a future AppliedAI Monthly meetup and help support us so we can make future Emerging Technologies North non-profit events!

• Emerging Technologies North
• AppliedAI Meetup

Resources and Topics Mentioned in this Episode

• DigitalDx Ventures
• Asbury Communities for Senior Living
• Children's Cancer Research Fund.
• HTEC
• Co-Intelligence by Ethan Mollick
• Competing in the Age of AI by Marco Iansiti and Karim R. Lakhani

Enjoy!

Your host,
Justin Grammens

The conversation this week is with   Michael Pitt, MD. Mike is an award winning educator, speaker, pediatrician, and entrepreneur. He's the co founder and CEO of Q-Rounds, a B2B SaaS for hospital systems, whose flagship product is a cloud based AI powered rounding cue, which provides notifications via text message to families of when to expect the provider for daily rounds.

This information updates in real time as rounds progress and offers one click telehealth connectivity. or family or medical consultants to join virtually. He is also a professor of pediatrics at the University of Minnesota and is a graduate of the John Hopkins School of Medicine.

If you are interested in learning about how AI is being applied across multiple industries, be sure to join us at a future AppliedAI Monthly meetup and help support us so we can make future Emerging Technologies North non-profit events!

• Emerging Technologies North
• AppliedAI Meetup

Resources and Topics Mentioned in this Episode

• Q-Rounds
• Jack's Basket
• Revenge of the Tipping Point by Malcolm Gladwell
• Discovery Launchpad
• Medical Alley
• Minnesota Founders
• Minnesota Cup

Enjoy!

Your host,
Justin Grammens

The conversation this week is with David Howard. David is a multidisciplinary data scientist and researcher with more than six years of industry experience and eight years in academia. He's been focused on pioneering advancements in generative AI and driving decision-making through insightful analytics, predictive modeling, and advanced data interpretation.

As a Ph. D. and former professor in mathematics with research in computer algorithms, he specializes in harnessing complex mathematical theories and applying them in practical ways to solve real-world problems. Makes a lot of sense being on this podcast because we really love applications. He is currently leading technical advancements at CoxAuto with a robust team of 45 data scientists, where his current role involves educating and mentoring others on the utilization of large language models in generative AI.

Always an educator, like myself, he hosts a bi-weekly seminar called Mundane to Masterful, educating more than 100 people as he demonstrates generative AI and its transformative potential across various industries.

If you are interested in learning about how AI is being applied across multiple industries, be sure to join us at a future AppliedAI Monthly meetup and help support us so we can make future Emerging Technologies North non-profit events!

• Emerging Technologies North
• AppliedAI Meetup

Resources and Topics Mentioned in this Episode

• CoxAuto
• Pythagorean Triples
• FleetNet America
• Ready Logistics
• Gartner hype cycle
• Bayesian statistics
• MTEB Leaderboard
• Retrieval-Augmented Generation AI

Enjoy!

Your host,
Justin Grammens

Hey everyone, Justin Grammens here, welcoming you to another episode of Conversations on Applied AI. Today’s episode is especially cool because I used an AI Tool called, NotebookLM to help generate! How amazing is that? We’re diving deep into some of the most engaging conversations of the past year, touching on groundbreaking advancements and thought-provoking insights from some incredible guests.

1. John Stanton from Accord discusses how AI is enabling people with disabilities to access social services more effectively by simplifying complex information and implementing AI-based scoring systems for social determinants of health.
2. Kevin Liu, Associate Professor at Ohio State University, explores the nuances of federated and decentralized learning, highlighting their importance in contexts like autonomous driving and low-power device optimization.
3. Lori Ryan, founder of Lorignite.com, emphasizes demystifying AI for the masses and underscores AI’s role in augmenting human capabilities, turning meeting transcripts into training documentation, and making AI accessible to all.
4. Rajeev Bukralia, Professor at Minnesota State Mankato, breaks down the critical importance of explainable AI (XAI) and data quality, advocating for CIOs to invest in robust data management to fully unleash AI's capabilities.
5. Tim Bornhold shares practical applications of AI in software development and healthcare, advocating for the democratization of software development and emphasizing the power of prompt engineering.

The episode then wraps up with reflections on the rapid evolution of AI, its potential to solve significant global challenges, and the importance of responsible AI development. Listeners are encouraged to stay curious, engage, and explore how AI can be integrated into their personal and professional lives.

Join us as we journey through the cutting-edge innovations and ethical considerations in AI, and discover how you can be a part of this revolutionary wave.

Huge thanks to our sponsors, Lab651 and Recursive Awesome for supporting the Applied AI community!

Enjoy!
Justin Grammens 

The conversation this week is with Lukasz Borzecki, the CEO of VM Software House, a company specializing in bespoke IT project implementation using a nearshoring model for the central European countries of Germany, Austria, and Switzerland.

Lucas has a background that combines both sales and IT, starting with selling ERP software before transitioning to development, and eventually management. He emphasizes the importance of understanding business language for developers, as well as the need to move beyond just writing code. He also believes that AI developers will replace those who don't. Lucas is also a husband and father of three and enjoys playing the guitar and the accordion and hiking in the mountains.

Lucas's unique perspective is that AI is a tool that helps with productivity, reduces busy work, and allows for more strategic thinking. He believes that AI is constantly evolving. However, he also stresses the importance of human involvement and decision-making, especially in areas governed by laws such as the EU's AI Act.

When he's not working, Lucas enjoys playing the guitar and accordion and even uses his accordion skills to create a unique and positive work environment by playing "Happy Birthday" for employees on their birthdays.

If you are interested in learning about how AI is being applied across multiple industries, be sure to join us at a future AppliedAI Monthly meetup and help support us so we can make future Emerging Technologies North non-profit events!

• Emerging Technologies North
• AppliedAI Meetup

Resources Mentioned in this Episode

• VM Software House
• GitHub Copilot
• Midjourney
• The McKinsey Way
• Story Brand (Building a Story Brand by Donald Miller)
• AI Act

Key Topics Discussed

• The importance of understanding business language for developers and the ability to communicate with clients.
• AI as a tool for increasing productivity, reducing busy work, and focusing on strategic tasks.
• The role of AI in modernizing legacy software and processes.
• The evolving nature of AI and how it is not a 'zero to one' change, but rather a gradual process.
• The need for human involvement in AI processes and decision-making, especially in legal contexts.
• Using AI tools such as Copilot and Midjourney.
• Applying AI to various industries such as semiconductor, automotive, education, industry, and finance.
• The importance of considering the business impact of AI, – increasing revenue, decreasing costs, or decreasing risk.
• How to use AI for learning, and how to apply common sense when using AI tools.

Enjoy!

Your host,
Justin Grammens

The conversation this week is with David Wynn. David is the Principal Solution Architect at EdgeDelta and an enthusiast for all things technology.

With a career spanning 15 years, including a pivotal role at Google Cloud for Games, David has cultivated a deep understanding of technical sales, solution architecture, and the transformative power of cloud services in the gaming industry and beyond. His unique perspective challenges the overreliance on AI, advocating for a balanced approach that leverages human ingenuity alongside technological advancements, especially in areas like observability.

When he's not steering innovation, David revels in the vibrant geek culture of Atlanta and a regular at DragonCon, the largest multimedia popular culture convention focusing on science fiction and fantasy. His diverse interests span from technology to philosophy

If you are interested in learning about how AI is being applied across multiple industries, be sure to join us at a future AppliedAI Monthly meetup and help support us so we can make future Emerging Technologies North non-profit events!

• Emerging Technologies North
• AppliedAI Meetup

Resources and Topics Mentioned in this Episode

• EdgeDelta
• DragonCon
• Saturday Morning Breakfast Cereal by Zach Wiener Smith
• 2024 CrowdStrike-related IT outages
• Antithesis
• Vector database
• K-means clustering

Enjoy!

Your host,
Justin Grammens

The conversation this week is with John Stanton. John's specialties include working with nonprofits, specifically in the areas of organizational development, management, sales, marketing, and branding. He's currently the Vice President of Growth Strategy at Accord. Accord makes it possible for people living with disabilities to achieve their personal and career goals and live a full life. Their services and programs use person centric thinking and are experts in leading the way when it comes to mental health.

If you are interested in learning about how AI is being applied across multiple industries, be sure to join us at a future AppliedAI Monthly meetup and help support us so we can make future Emerging Technologies North non-profit events!

• Emerging Technologies North
• AppliedAI Meetup

Resources and Topics Mentioned in this Episode

• Accord
• Social Determinants of Health
• Lori Ryan on Conversations on Applied AI

Enjoy!

Your host,
Justin Grammens

The conversation this week is with Kevin Liu. Kevin is an associate professor in the Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering at Ohio State University and an Amazon visiting academic with Amazon.com. From August 2017 to August 2020, he was an assistant professor in the Department of Computer Science at Iowa State University. He currently serves as a Managing Director of the NSF AI Institute for Future Edge Networks and Distributed Intelligence at OSU. He received his PhD degree from the Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering at Virginia Tech in 2010. And among many awards, he was an NSF Career Award recipient and a winner of the Google Faculty Research Award in 2020.

If you are interested in learning about how AI is being applied across multiple industries, be sure to join us at a future AppliedAI Monthly meetup and help support us so we can make future Emerging Technologies North non-profit events!

• Emerging Technologies North
• AppliedAI Meetup

Resources and Topics Mentioned in this Episode

• NSF AI Institute for Future Edge Networks and Distributed Intelligence
• Google DeepMind
• Multi-armed bandit
• Reinforcement learning
• Federated learning
• MMLS 2024
• Retrieval-Augmented Generation
• AlphaGo

Enjoy!

Your host,
Justin Grammens

The conversation this week is with Satish Muvva. Satish has founded two companies, both harnessing cutting edge technology and focusing on health. His latest company, CarePredict, has a simple goal, making it easier to take care of and look out for seniors. He's invented a wearable device called Tempo, the first designed for the elderly, which lends our activities of daily living and compiles these patterns into an individual's rhythm journal. Prior to CarePredict, he founded ContinuLink, an innovative home care medical staffing and hospice IT SaaS company, which he sold to Pecura in 2011. Innovation and healthcare have been constant themes throughout his career, and he's passionate about exploring and finding new ways to tackle problems.

If you are interested in learning about how AI is being applied across multiple industries, be sure to join us at a future AppliedAI Monthly meetup and help support us so we can make future Emerging Technologies North non-profit events!

• Emerging Technologies North
• AppliedAI Meetup

Resources and Topics Mentioned in this Episode

• CarePredict
• Tempo
• Predictive maintenance
• Geoffrey Hinton
• The Worlds I See: Curiosity, Exploration, and Discovery at the Dawn of AI by Fei-Fei Li 
• Mechanical Turk
• National Association for Home Care & Hospice
• HomeCare100
• 2024 Senior Living Executive Conference
• Leading Edge Conferences

Enjoy!

Your host,
Justin Grammens