More Intelligent Tomorrow: a DataRobot Podcast DataRobot

Synthetic media may sound like a suave, futuristic idea. But it is happening right now and the concept is a simple one. Synthetic media can be defined as creating videos, audio, and text content using AI or any other software tools. However intriguing synthetic media may seem, very few people understand the gravity of this technology and just how awesome and scary it can be. 
Joining us is the Chief Product Office and Co-Founder of Potion, Kanad Bahalkar. Potion is a synthetic media platform and, since its conception almost two years ago, it has undertaken to make synthetic media a more secure, safe, and efficient process for everybody involved. Their initial focus has been geared towards their sales staff, with the salespeople creating personalized videos to send out to potential customers. Much like many email tools, Potion uses a person’s first name as personalization parameters, and its AI technology is able to create accurate lip syncs without having to record each video individually.  

How does the will to survive bring clarity to the human experience? What would you sacrifice to achieve social justice? How do we find meaning and purpose in a world dominated by technology? These are the kinds of spiritual, social, and philosophical questions posed by today’s guest in his futuristic novel, Unfettered Journey, which follows the story of an AI scientist who seeks to create true robot consciousness.
We’re joined today by writer, philosopher, and technologist, Gary F. Bengier, who has followed a fascinating and uniquely non-linear career path. Before turning to speculative fiction writing, Gary spent nearly 30 years immersed in tech in Silicon Valley, including a stint as eBay’s Chief Financial Officer. He then pursued passion projects, studying astrophysics and philosophy and devoting much of the last two decades to thinking about how to live a balanced, meaningful life in a rapidly evolving technological world. This self-reflective journey infuses his novel with insights about our future and the challenges we will all face in finding purpose.

What if the solution to food insecurity is technology? In today’s conversation, host Ari Kaplan sits down with Mick Ebeling, Founder /CEO of Not Impossible Labs and Bento and Sanjay Srivastava, Chief Digital Officer of Genpact, to discuss how technological innovation is helping solve food insecurity amongst at-risk populations.
Not Impossible Labs is a global innovation lab that has spent the last decade tackling issues they call “absurdities” and building solutions aptly named “technology for the sake of humanity.”  They have done this for a myriad of absurdities, from creating low cost ways for a parlayzed to draw again using only his eyes, to launching the world's first 3D printed prosthetic lab in a war torn refugee camp in Sudan.
For years Mick and the Not Impossible Labs team were obsessed with the absurdity around Food Insecurity in the United States.  So he and the Not Impossible team built Bento, software that is improving health one text message at a time. Bento’s unique approach is to connect historically marginalized and under-resourced people with nutritious, stigma-free meals from nearby restaurants and grocery stores. In the short time Bento has been deployed, it has already garnered such accolades as being named as a Fast Company World Changing Idea, and Fortune Impact 20 company, and being named as a TIME Best Invention of 2021. 
AI has the potential to supercharge Bento’s ability to create impact at scale. Generally, when people think of artificial intelligence they think of self-driving cars or large data processing algorithms however, it does not always have to operate on such a large scale. Bento is carefully architecting the foundation of its data to more efficiently identify and connect participants' needs to available resources that drive valuable health outcomes. The takeaway message from this invigorating conversation is the power of combining data, technology, and people to innovate and solve big problems in society. It is the belief of both guests that being able to orchestrate people, processes, data, and technology in a synchronized fashion is what drives real change in our societies. Tune in to learn more about the superpower of people and technology with true innovators that are making real change.
Key Points From This Episode:
The definition of food insecurity and how it manifests in society.Reasons for our guests getting involved with solving food insecurity.What the differences are between invention and innovation.The impact that Bento has and the potential it has to grow in the future.Technology and data challenges that they have or may need to overcome.Outcomes that they have achieved and hope to achieve in the future.

Technology has always played a key role in the world of music, with things like digital production software, loop pedals, and multi-track recording transforming the industry forever. Artificial intelligence (AI), however, is about to be the most disruptive technology in music.
In today’s episode, Ben Taylor sits down with Alex Mitchell, Founder, and CEO of Boomy, to discuss the future of AI in music.
Boomy is an industry leader, using artificial intelligence to create "instant music.” Alex shares how he has tried to solve the question of what good music is with data and why he believes that, ultimately, good music is whatever people want to listen to. The music industry is evolving as we move into a time of growth, as evidenced by the explosion of content on TikTok and the billions of streams that have resulted from it, and why he believes that the least efficient way to invest in musicians today would be to start a traditional record label.
Boomy presents the opportunity for a new consumption dynamic, using AI to look forward, not backward, and develop a native format for the next generation of listeners. On the topic of AI, Alex reflects on whether this emerging technology helps or hinders artists, saying that Boomy is not designed to replace musicians but rather provide the necessary tools to those who don’t have the same resources and access that many musicians do. In the end, great songs aren’t created by optimization algorithms, but by people with the tools to express themselves!
Taking a minute to look toward the future of technology in music, Alex speaks to the likelihood of using real-time EEG neurofeedback or brain-computer interfaces (BCI) to accelerate trends, saying that, while there are companies that are already working on this technology, we probably won’t see it realized in our lifetime. When asked about the future impact of AI on music, Alex explains how Boomy facilities personalization or what he calls ‘context-aware algorithmic music’, which he believes is currently hindered by the difficulty to monetize it. What is missing, in his opinion, is a way to incentivize the business models of those systems, which is one of Boomy’s core goals.
Reflecting on the two components of what musicians do, the first being skill and the second bringing taste, Alex explains how Boomy is building an interface where technology fills in the skill gap and allows everyone to become a composer in their own right. As the technology evolves, there will be greater opportunities to create and consume hyper-personalized content more rapidly and, as our appetite for short-form video content grows, Alex also thinks that the way the music industry operates will continue to evolve too.
Regardless of what we think is ‘good' music or ‘bad’ music, the only data we have to go on is consumption and Alex believes that it’s what we each bring to music that makes it good, not some set of universal criteria. As a musician himself, Alex isn’t on a mission to replace musicians; he is leveraging the latest technology to create a whole new generation of creators and explore a new consumption dynamic that blurs the line between performer and audience. 
Key Points From This Episode:
Defining what good (and bad) music is and what the future of the music industry looks like.How Boomy uses AI to present the opportunity for a new music consumption dynamic.Creating a new generation of artists, not replacing existing ones.Future technologies in music and how AI facilitates context-aware algorithmic music.Why there are no universal criteria that defines good or bad music; it’s personal!

“Data is only as good as its ability to drive value,” is the core belief of today’s guest, Dan Merzlyak, Head of Business Intelligence at BlackRock. BlackRock is the world’s largest asset management firm with over $10 trillion in assets and Dan is focusing on building a new data conversion and business intelligence strategy for the company’s core alternatives platform offering.  
The three different types of analytics that can be used to drive a business are descriptive, predictive, and prescriptive. As Dan explains in more detail in today’s episode, his approach to business intelligence is to first identify the business problems that need solving and then work backward towards the data. Artificial intelligence becomes useful at the prescriptive analytics stage and we’re only just scratching the surface of the potential of this tool to drive value. 
In big companies, there is more often than not a gap between the people who are driving the analytics and the people who are creating the analytics. However, Dan believes that in the near future it will be essential to have a greater degree of collaboration throughout the company, and for business leaders to adopt business intelligence tools in their daily workflows as opposed to relying on operational teams to present them with data. To enable true transformation in a business setting, people and processes deserve equal attention. 
Dan’s wide range of experience working in different companies across many industries has allowed him to witness the trends that are taking place in the business world. Based on these trends, Dan explains the importance of focusing on seamlessness workflow to attract customers.
The world we live in is constantly changing, and changing fast. Data analytics has the potential to drive enormous value for an organization and keep it relevant in an ever-evolving environment. If you’re interested in hearing about the transformational power of data, you’ve come to the right place!
Listen to this episode of More Intelligent Tomorrow to learn:
Factors that have driven BlackRock’s astounding growth.Why Dan believes in focusing on driving business value first, and working back to the data.How different types of analytics can be used to drive a business.The importance of investing in the people behind your technology. How to build a data culture within your organization.

Nicolas Robbe is the CEO of Hoverlay in Acton, Massachusetts. In 2016, he left his job as Chief Marketing Officer at Dynatrace and re-engaged with one of his passions—augmented reality. The space was going through a profound transformation, and his goal was to create new technology and cool new tools for the public. 
In this episode of More Intelligent Tomorrow, host Dave Anderson talks to Nicolas about his work bringing augmented reality to screens. Nicolas describes how AR can bring deeper meaning to our experiences, associated opportunities and challenges, and the need for technologies that have a positive influence—promoting empathy and understanding instead of distancing people from one another.
AR, he says, has the power to activate cognitive circuitry to convey emotion, promoting community connection and generating empathy and understanding. 
“As we live our lives, we're seeking meaning, looking for a deeper connection with the places we go and with the people around us. This medium is designed extremely well for that task, the same way the web is well-suited for sharing information and transacting.”
Nicolas has always had a passion for understanding the nature of interactions between humans and systems and reducing the cognitive load on people when trying to transmit information to them. 
He describes multiple layers. One involves figuring out how to use visual metaphors to communicate and bring information into the physical world through a screen. Another involves getting off the screen to where the camera becomes a sort of browser—something a user can place content into just as they place images on a webpage. 
He explains how it works from a user perspective: They hold their phone, open the app, and see the video feed go through—as if they were taking photos. However, with AR, the camera is able to insert pixels and content into the field. 
“The magic is that the user creates the illusion of presence to help them feel the content. There are many techniques for creating the illusion so the brain accepts that it’s real. The user holds their phone, sees the content, and plays along. The content is usually meaningful to their location.”
Asked how virtual reality compares with augmented reality, Nicolas says, “VR is about taking you away from your reality and giving you, perhaps, a better reality or an experience you couldn’t have in the physical world, with everything that entails. AR, on the other hand, tries to reconnect you with your physical environment. It could be a park, a building, (or) a kitchen. But it starts and ends with the location—the context—then augments it so your experience of that moment and location is more meaningful, more fun, more engaged. It's trying to connect you with the moment and the space versus taking you away from it.”
Listen to this episode of More Intelligent Tomorrow to learn more about:
How augmented reality deepens our understanding of historyHow AR can be used to create connection and understandingHow context affects the experience and retention of informationHow augmented reality is different from virtual realityHow ethical concerns relate to AR, including fake news and virtual trespassing