CXNext

This week's episode is just me — Ryan Lester — looking back at 2019 and reflecting on what we've seen this year.

I've done about 50 podcasts, so I had a lot of great conversations with my guests as well as with my clients and with many of you who listen in.

Here's what I learned:

• Tech titans such as Google, Amazon, and Microsoft invested heavily in tools that make AI more accessible and easier to use
• All this investment is still the exception, not the norm
• These non-traditional people who should be coming to your table
• ...and why you should be cautious about making tech your scapegoat

This conversation was taken from our AI: In Real Life. If you want to hear more AI episodes like this one, check us out on Apple Podcasts here.

If you don't use Apple Podcasts, you can find every episode here.

Authentication used to be an easy process. 

It all started with the king. 

The king would require a wax seal around any form of parchment or communication that was produced, verifying that it was actually coming from the person that it was supposed to be coming from. If it wasn't sealed with the king's seal, it wasn't legitimate communication.  It's become a little more complicated since then. 

On the most recent episode of AI:IRL, we sat down with John Baird, Founder at CEO at Vouched for a talk about:

• The challenges we face with authentication.
• How to eliminate the friction present in identify verification. 
• What AI can do to make those challenges less of a burden. 

Manufacturing has long had robots carrying out certain tasks — but those robots require a high amount of inputs on the front end. Then, once those inputs are created, the robots are "stuck" in that position. Throw off the temperature of the manufacturing floor, the orientation of an object, or any other small detail, and that robot has very little ability to respond.

But now, with advanced robotics, at least one company is trying to create more aware robots that can respond to their environment.

On this episode, Costas Boulis joined us to share how Bright Machines is reinventing manufacturing with advanced robotics

Costas is the Chief Scientist at Bright Machines, and was previously an Applied Scientist at Amazon and a Data Scientist for Microsoft, among other advanced science positions. He has a PhD in Electrical Engineering, and received scholar positions at both John Hopkins and Stanford.

What we talked about:

• Industrial manufacturing
• IIOT
• AI, robotics, and the future of industrial manufacturing

This discussion with Costas Boulis was taken from our AI: In Real Life podcast. If you want to hear more AI episodes like this one, check us out on Apple Podcasts.

If you don't use Apple Podcasts, you can also find every episode here.

Typically, we feed our AI invented datasets that don't represent real life situations and scenarios. These models are preparing AI for an unrealistic environment that doesn't work IRL.

But James Dean is changing models at his company, SenSat. They're using breakthroughs in camera and inexpensive drone technology to capture real geographies. They layer these geographies with everyday obstacles — like people, temperature, lighting — to develop models that replicate real life geographies, creating what James calls "digital twins."

James came on this episode of AI:IRL to tell us all about how he's creating "a SimCity of the real world."

What we talked about:

• AI models
• 3D Geographies
• 3D Geometries 
• Digital twins
• LIDAR
• Large datasets
• How AI is impacting the construction industry
• AI in the infrastructure industry

This discussion with James Dean was taken from our AI: In Real Life podcast. If you want to hear more AI episodes like this one, check us out on Apple Podcasts here.

A picture's worth a thousand words.

So, why wouldn't retailers want shoppers using an image search instead of a keyword search?

The thing is… they do. And one company called ViSenze is making it possible.

On the latest episode of AI: IRL, I speak with Oliver Tan, co-founder and CEO of ViSenze.

We discuss:

• How an image search engine can work for apparel shopping
• Data on how shoppers have responded to AI visuals
• Digital experiences that transcend online shopping

Resources:

Visual Search - Why Retailers Should Care

To listen to our other episodes, check us out on Apple Podcasts. Or if you don't use Apple Podcasts, you can also find every episode here.

It's that time of year — getting ready for 2020. By checking your AI for biases.

We think we're getting better insights out of AI, but in reality biases are lurking behind the scenes.

On this episode, I interview Vasco Pedro, CEO and Co-Founder at Unbabel, about what organizations can do to recognize biases in AI.

What we talked about:

• Understanding the origin of bias (biased data from biased humans)
• Mitigating the risk of bias with 3 strategies
• Questions you need to ask to get ready for 2020
• ...and why 2025 is a big deadline

This discussion with Vasco Pedro was taken from our AI: In Real Life. If you want to hear more AI episodes like this one, check us out on Apple Podcasts here.

If you don't use Apple Podcasts, you can find every episode here.

In the discussion of AI, we don't talk about taking a user-centric approach nearly enough. We need to be asking: Are we delivering a better user experience through AI?

On this episode, I interview Chris Butler, Chief Product Architect at IPsoft:

What we talked about:

• The right way to approach design
• Getting more people involved in the design conversation
• User-centric design questions
• How AI helps identify biases for better decision making

This discussion with Chris Butler was taken from our AI: In Real Life. If you want to hear more AI episodes like this one, check us out on Apple Podcasts here.

If you don't use Apple Podcasts, you can also find every episode here.

There always seems to be a fear with A.I. that somehow the world will become too automated and mechanistic. That somehow we will forget what it means to be a human being in all the mess of technology and innovation we're seeing. However, this couldn't be further from the truth!

On this week's episode we talk with Neil Sahota, Lecturer at the University of California Irvine, about the incredible social effects that A.I. and machine learning are having. A.I. is allowing for customization of individual user experience at a massive scale, which will make the world more personal than it's ever been before. We cover:

1. A.I. Is Becoming Your Best Friend and Personal Shopper
2. A.I. Is Learning How to Motivate You
3. A.I. Is Freeing You to Spend More Time Investing in Relationships

Checkout these resources we mentioned during the podcast:

• "Own the A.I. Revolution: Unlock Your Artificial Intelligence Strategy to Disrupt Your Competition".
• Neil Sahota
• www.neilsahota.com

This discussion with Neil Sahota was taken from our AI: In Real Life. If you want to hear more AI episodes like this one, check us out on Apple Podcasts here.

If you don't use Apple Podcasts, you can also find every episode here.

Any industrial operation's success comes down to efficiency. If manufacturers or contractors can get more efficient, then they can increase production while maintaining cost to the consumer, therefore driving up profit margins!

Today we're looking at some exciting ways that A.I. is changing the way companies are approaching machine learning and manufacturing. My guest today was Nikunj Mehta, PHd. He is the founder and CEO of Falkonry. 

On this episode, we discussed how Falkonry is using A.I. to increase an industrial operations company's profitability:

• They are making manufacturers more efficient.
• They are helping companies apply machine learning.
• They are making A.I. accessible to domain experts.

Checkout these resources:

• Nikunj Mehta
• Bold 360 Blog

When it comes to AI, one space that's not really talked about enough is the world of consumer science. 

So, on this episode of AI:IRL, we're joined by Dr. John Ennis. As a market research consultant focused on sensory and consumer science, Dr. Ennis has a really great perspective to share on how we can leverage AI to really benefit the consumer science space.

What we talked about:

• The world of consumer science
• How they're using AI to create better consumer experiences
• The benefits of using AI over humans to generate these results

Resources we talked about:

• John's LinkedIn
• Aigora

To listen to our other episodes, check us out on Apple Podcasts. Or if you don't use Apple Podcasts, you can also find every episode here.