The AI in Business Podcast

Episode summary: Here on the AI in Industry podcast, we've heard AI experts explain how high-performance computing (HPC) has enabled everything from machine vision to fraud detection. In this week's episode, we speak with Paul Martino, Managing Partner at Bullpen Capital, about which industries and AI applications will require high-performance computing most. Paul also adds some useful tips for business leaders on how to prepare for the coming AI-related developments in hardware and software. Interested readers can listen to our full interview with Paul here: https://www.techemergence.com/?p=12779&preview=true

Episode summary: In this episode of AI in Industry, we speak with Dr. Sanmay Das from the Washington University in St. Louis about risk prediction and management in industries like banking, insurance and finance. Sanmay explores how are banks and other financial institutions are improving risk and fraud prevention measures with machine learning. In addition, he explores the ramifications of improved fraud detection in the coming 5 years ahead. Interested readers can listen to the full interview with Sanmay here: https://www.techemergence.com/machine-learning-for-credit-risk/

Episode summary: In the last two or three years we at TechEmergence have witnessed a definite uptick in AI applications like predictive maintenance and heavy industry. Many exciting business intelligence and sensor data applications are making their way into "stodgy" industries like transportation, oil and gas, and telecom - where machine vision has countless applications. We had caught up with Massimiliano Versace, CEO of Neurala over 4 years ago in an interview about the ethical implications of AI. In this week's episode of AI in Industry, Max speaks with us about how machine vision and drones can be used together to automate the process of facilities and heavy asset upkeep. Max walks us through potential applications in telecom and rail transportation and explains where he thinks machine vision has the strongest potential to impact the bottom line. Business leaders who manage heavy assets or physical infrastructure should find this interview insightful, as Max explains both current and near-future applications for machine vision for maintenance and upkeep. Interested readers can listen to the full interview with Max here: https://www.techemergence.com/applications-of-machine-vision-in-heavy-industry/

Episode summary: In this episode of AI in Industry we speak with Abhi Yadav, the CEO of ZyloTech, a Boston-based customer analytics platform for omni-channel marketing operations. Abhi talks about what's possible now with AI for marketing personalization, and what will be possible in the next 5 years. Business leaders with an increasing focus on narrower customer targeting will be interested in Abhi's insights on how technology allows for businesses to reach an "audience of one". Interested readers can listen to the full interview with Abhi here: https://www.techemergence.com/artificial-intelligence-personalization-marketing-current-future-possibilities/

Episode summary: In this week's episode of AI in Industry we speak with DataRobot CEO Jeremy Achin about the future of AI applications for people without a data science background. We specifically discuss how future AI tools might bypass the complexity of machine learning programming and make intuitive interfaces that function more like today's everyday software. Our business leader listeners will be interested in Jeremy's predictions about how the UX for AI-related tools might become more simplified and code-less in the coming 5 years. Interested readers can listen to the full interview with Jermy here: https://www.techemergence.com/will-artificial-intelligence-become-easier-use/

Episode summary: In this week's episode of AI in Industry, we speak with Larry Lafferty, the President and CEO of Veloxiti. Larry has been building large AI projects for DARPA and other large private companies for the last 30 years. In this interview, Larry explains three critical factors to applying artificial intelligence in the enterprise (with insights especially relevant for companies who aren't very familiar with AI and data science). AI vendors and business leaders should find the "how to" insights in this interview useful – particularly Larry's details on organizing data and defining an AI-applicable business problem. Interested readers can listen to the full interview with Larry here: https://www.techemergence.com/how-to-apply-ai-…h-larry-lafferty/

Episode summary: In the heavy industry sector, the cost of unpredicted repairs or machine failures can be very expensive. For example: A cargo train with an engine failure in will incur costs from it's own repairs, from the transit required to reach the broken down engine, and with holding up other trains and cargo in the process. Predictive maintenance has the potential to help businesses assess the condition of vehicles, equipment and parts in order to predict when maintenance should be performed. Using data collected by sensors on machines (including vibration, temperature, and more) heavy industry companies can potentially predict which machines or parts need imminent maintenance and which machines are least likely to breakdown. In this week's episode, we speak with Will McGinnis, Chief Scientist of Predikto, a predictive maintenance software provider based in Atlanta. Will speaks with us about predictive maintenance applied for the improvement railways and trains equipment, and how companies in the railway sector can use predictive maintenance to coax out patterns in maintenance schedules and heavy equipment data. Interested readers can listen to the full interview with Will here:https://www.techemergence.com/will-mcginnis-predikto-predictive-maintenance-trains-mobile-heavy-industry

Episode summary: In this week's episode of AI in Industry we speak with Rodney Brooks, Founder and CTO of Rethink Robotics, a collaborative robot manufacturers founded in Boston in 2008. Rodney explores robotic safety an regulations and he also paints a picture of what robots might be capable of in the next five years. Executives in the logistics and manufacturing sectors considering adopting robots will find Rodney's insights most valuable. Rodney explores what applications will move into the realm of robotics and what application won't in the near future and delves into what business executives need to know about human robot collaboration before considering their adoption. Interested readers can see the full interview with Rodney Brooks from Rethink Robotics here: https://www.techemergence.com/improving-robot-safety-capability-artificial-intelligence-rodney-brooks/

Episode summary: One of the key challenges that enterprises face in adopting artificial intelligence is finding skilled data science talent; ). Business leaders want to know when it's best to hire AI talent, to "upskill" existing workers, or simply to bring in AI consultants - and the answers aren't always obvious. In this episode of AI in Industry we speak with Nikolaos Vasiloglou from MLTrain about how AI consulting and AI training events can be used to upgrade an existing team's skills. Nikolaos also distinguishes the right and wrong circumstances to bring on AI consultants, and shares his tips on how training, upskilling, and consulting can level up an existing company's AI capabilities. Listeners can find out how to set realistic goals for re-training existing teams for new AI skill sets. Lastly, we also explore how AI consultants can support developer and engineering teams to produce fruitful real-world AI applications (without developing unhealthy reliance on outside experts). Interested readers can also listen to our previous episode of AI in Industry (here) where we look at overcoming the data and talent challenges of AI in life sciences Interested readers can listen to the full interview with Nikolaos here:https://www.techemergence.com/whats-the-value-of-ai-events-and-consulting/

Episode Summary: Over the last couple of years there has been a definite but small shift from mobile as the primary interface focus for businesses to voice. With home assistant devices like the Amazon Echo and the Google Home becoming more commonplace, we aim to focus on how voice based AI applications are being used by businesses today and what this adoption will look like in the future. In this week's episode of AI in Industry, we speak with Peter Cahill, the founder and CEO of Voysis, a voice AI platform that enables voice-based natural language instruction, search, and discovery. Peter explores areas where voice related AI applications will be used by businesses in B2B and B2C spaces today and what this might look like in five years. Interested readers can see the full interview with Peter Cahill from Voysis here: https://www.techemergence.com/spoken-voice-ai-applications-smart-home-peter-cahill-voysis/

In this week's episode we focus on AI application in the customer service business function, - specifically in the context of call centers. We speak with Ali Azarbayejani, CTO of Cogito based in the Boston area, which works on coaching and providing feedback for call center agents in real time. We aim to focus on what our readers and business executives can do today with AI in the context of call center applications, and how they can go about seeing measurable impacts over a predetermined period of time. We speak with Ali about what is possible with analyzing voice in real-time today and what kind of ROI can businesses expect for this application. Lastly we touch-base on what factors will make AI inevitable for some companies in the next two to three years. Interested readers can see the full interview with Ail here: https://www.techemergence.com/what-industries-will-adopt-voice-related-ai-applications-first/

Episode summary: There are many challenges to bringing AI into an enterprise for example the lack of skilled AI talent, or issues around data organization. In this week's episode, we focus on AI adoption in the enterprise from an investor's perspective. We expect that founders looking to sell B2B enterprise AI-products and people in enterprises who are looking for the right qualities in an AI firm which would ease integration, would find this episode relatable. We speak with Rudina Seseri from Glasswing Ventures about what are the pain points for AI integration in the enterprise and at the other end of the spectrum, some factors that are aiding AI adoption. Interested readers can see the full interview with Rudina here: https://www.techemergence.com/reducing-friction-ai-adoption-enterprise-rudina-seseri/

Episode summary: In this week's interview on the AI in Industry podcast, we speak with Amir Konigsberg, the CEO of Twiggle, about the future of product search - and how eCommerce and retail brands can use natural language processing (NLP) to improve their user experience. Amir explains some of the factors that make eCommerce product search challenging, and the artificial intelligence approaches that can improve it today and within the next five years. Interested readers can learn more about present and future use-cases for artificial intelligence applications in retail in our full article on that topic. You can listen to the full interview with Amir Konigsberg from Twiggle here: https://www.techemergence.com/nlp-for-ecommerce-search-current-challenges-and-future-potential

Episode Summary: Machine learning (ML) can be used to identify objects and pictures or help steer vehicles, but is not best suited for text-based AI applications says Robbie Allen, founder of Automated Insights. In this episode of AI in Industry, we speak with Robbie about what is possible in generating text with AI and why rules based processes are a big part of natural language generation (NLG). We also explore which industries are likely to adopt such NLG techniques and in what ways can NLG help in business intelligence applications in the near future. You can listen to the full interview with Robbie here: https://www.techemergence.com/robbie-allen-from-automated-insights-the-use-cases-of-natural-language-generation

Episode summary: This week's episode explores the current possibilities in applying natural language processing for legal contract review. We speak with Andrew Antos and Nischal Nadhamuni from Klaritylaw, a Boston-based startup focused on using natural language processing (NLP) based information extraction, from non-disclosure agreements (NDAs), in a live setting. We delve into the current and future roles of AI and lawyers with respect to legal contracts. AI is currently being applied in applications like retroactive analysis and information identification in legal documents. According to Andrew and Nishchal, in the future we will see on-the-fly legal content creation from AI tools and NLP being applied to most commercial contracting. Although, one restraint that AI companies presently face in the legal domain is the lack of access to huge amounts of publicly available data. You can listen to the full interview with Andrew and Nischal here: https://www.techemergence.com/applying-ai-legal-contracts-whats-possible-now/ ‎

Episode summary: Most NLP applications we hear about involve marketing, customer service, and other customer-facing functions - but that there are NLP-related opportunities in other back-end functions as well. In this episode of AI in industry, we speak with Talla's Chief Data Scientist, Byron Galbraith, about how businesses can leverage chatbots or other NLP applications for improving document search for internal company communication. Byron explores what is currently possible using AI to improve search operations using contextual awareness. Byron also paints a vision of what AI-enabled "knowledge sharing" and "knowledge discovery" might look like in the future. For the full article of this episode, visit: TechEmergence.com/artificial-intelligence-team-communication/

When we talk about natural language processing (NLP), applications like handling customer service or chatbots which can aid with questions, come to mind. Yet, in recent years, NLP platforms have been increasingly used in content marketing and content production applications. In this episode of AI in industry, we talk to Tomás Ratia García-Oliveros, the co-founder and CEO founder of Frase.io, a Boston based startup which focuses on NLP problems around content marketing and content creation. Tomas explores how NLP platforms are now able to summarize resources on the web, perform contextual search and language understanding applications related to this domain. See the full interview article with Tomás Ratia García-Oliveros live at: www.techemergence.com/artificial-intelligence-content-marketing-content-creation

In this episode of AI in industry, we speak with Michael Johnson, the director of research and innovation for Interactions llc, in Boston MA. Michael explores the inbound (human to machine) and outbound (machine to human) applications of voice based natural language processing (NLP) and also talks about attaching a timeframe to how soon small and medium enterprises (SMEs) would have access to this technology in a financially sensible manner. Although NLP is often associated with chat or text interfaces, voice is important for applications in call centers, mobile phones, smart home devices, and more. In addition, Michael explains that voice involves unique challenges that text does not have to deal with - including background noise and accents, which need to be overcome to deliver a good user experience. See the full interview article with Michael Johnston live at: www.techemergence.com/overcoming-challenges-spoken-voice-based-natural-language-processing-nlp-business-use

In order to shed more light on the growing applications of natural language processing, we speak with Vlad Sejnoha (CTO of Nuance Communications) about the current and near-term applications of NLP for voice and text across industries. In this podcast interview, Vlad breaks down real-world NLP use-cases in industries like banking, healthcare, automotive, and customer service. For the full article of this episode, visit: TechEmergence.com/natural-language-processing-current-applications-and-future-possibilities

This week on AI in Industry we interview Vito Vishnepolsky of Clickworker. Clickworker is a large microtasking marketplace that crowdsources the search optimization work for many of the world's leading search engines. So how does crowdsourced human work play a role in making sure eCommerce and media searches give users what they want? That's exactly what we explore this week. Vito's perspective is valuable because he has a finger on the pulse of crowdsourced demand, handing business development for various crowdsourced AI support services - both for tech giants and startups. Read the full article online at TechEmergence: TechEmergence.com/how-microtasking-helps-optimize-ai-based-search

Sales forecasting is big business. If you can better predict how much of a certain product or service you will sell in a given day, you can better stock inventory, better staff your facilities, and ultimately keep more margin in your business's accounts. This week on AI in Industry we interview Dr. John-Paul B Clarke, professor at Georgia Tech and co-founder / Chief Scientist at Pace (previously called "Prix"). Dr. Clarke shares details about how sales predictions are done today, and what AI advancements may allow for in helping businesses sell everything from groceries to hotel rooms. Read the full interview article online at: techemergence.com/ai-sales-forecasting-works-matters

In this episode of AI in industry, Innoplexus CEO Gunjan Bhardwaj explores how pharma giants are working to overcome two critical challenges with AI: Data, and talent. Pharmaceutical data is challenging because the same term (say "EGFR") might be referred to as a "protein", a "biomarker", or a "target". Gunjan explores how this kind of relevance and context for data - and how pharma companies may need to hire the talent issues involved with making life sciences and computer sciences teams work together productively. See the full interview article online at: techemergence.com/overcoming-data-talent-challenges-ai-life-sciences

This week, AI in Industry features Jeremy Barnes, Chief Architect at Element AI. Jeremy talks about the common mistakes some businesses might make while adopting AI to solve broad business problems. He also sheds light on the problem areas that could raise the market value of businesses through AI adoption, hiring the right talent with the right combination of subject matter expertise and business experience, and the business and technical aspects executives should consider before contemplating the adoption of AI. For more insights on the B2B applications of AI, go to techemergence.com

This week, AI in Industry features Dr. David Franke, Chief Scientist at Vast. David talks about how AI can work with scarce transaction data to derive meaningful analytics for big purchases, such as cars and houses. He elaborates on how the AI can glean information from user interaction and marketplace data to provide customers with the relevant product fit, deals and recommendations on big purchases. He also discusses the future trends and business benefits for early adopters of AI for purchase recommendations of high-cost items. For more insights on this topic, go to www.techemergence.com

This week's episode covers the medical applications of machine vision for the diagnosis and treatment of cancer. Medical science has integrated AI since the late 90s, and it's been useful in the fight against cancer. This week's guest is Dr. Alexandre Le Bouthillier, founder of Imagia. Imagia is a medical imaging company which specializes in using AI and machine learning to detect cancer in its early stages so that oncologists can make quicker, more accurate diagnoses for patients. AI is a useful tool in the detection of breast cancer, colon cancer, and lung cancer. It can even detect genetic mutations, something humans certainly cannot. Learn just how important AI has been over the last two decades in developing the medical infrastructure necessary for patients to have a chance at surviving and even curing their cancer. See the full interview article - with images and audio included - on TechEmergence: TechEmergence.com/the-future-of-medical-machine-vision-possibilities-for-diagnostics-and-more

This week on AI in Industry, we speak with Equifax's Dr. Rajkumar Bondugula about how the dynamics, composition and requirements of the data science team have evolved over the years. Raj also shares valuable insights on how to build a robust data science and machine learning team, use its collective intelligence to solve problems, and retain the team by engaging them with the right problems they expect to solve. For more insights from AI executives, visit: TechEmergence.com

This week on AI in Industry, we explore IoT security with Bob Baxley (Chief Engineer at Bastille). This includes information on how different IoT security is compared to infosec, the unique challenges IoT security presents (for detecting and scanning wireless network traffic that runs on various protocols and for classifying types of cyberthreats), what the future of IoT security might look like, and how deep learning and machine learning tools can be used to better classify and detect threats and attacks in the cyberspace. For more insight on the applications of AI in industry, visit: TechEmergence.com

In this episode of AI in Industry, we explore how artificial intelligence can be use to manipulate human behavior - in gaming and in business. We explore how game designers use psychology and machine learning to drive their own desired outcomes, leaving users to "feel" in control. Dr. Charles Isbell teaches machine learning at Georgia Tech. He explores the manipulative elements of game design, and how some of the same AI approaches are likely being used at tech giants like Amazon and Facebook. In this episode you learn how businesses leverage the "illusion of choice" with subtly influential AI techniques. Charles also helps us understand which businesses will be most able to use AI to guide user behavior in the years ahead. For more interviews about the applications of AI in industry, visit: www.TechEmergence.com

If you combine the hype-factor of both "blockchain" and "artificial intelligence" you often get a supernova of jargon. This week on the AI in Industry podcast, we aim to get beyond the hype to discuss how blockchain might make AI more accessible for small and mid-sized businesses in the years ahead. Dr. Ben Goertzel - CEO of SingularityNET - is our guest this week. For more expert interviews about the business applications of AI, visit: TechEmergence.com

Expert systems and machine learning are two ends of a spectrum working to solve similar problems quite differently. One one hand you have if-then scenarios and a logical approach, and on the other you have vast neural networks and a big data approach. Some companies exist to try and bridge the gap between the if-then rule systems and the massive piles of data. They hope to find a middle ground of sorts, one that mitigates their individual disadvantages. One such company is Montreal's fuzzy.ai. In this episode, we interview its founder, Evan Prodromou about the state of the middle ground, so-called hybrid systems. The middle ground is an elusive, still mostly theoretical concept, but businesses can take steps to prepare for when it becomes accessible to them. What exactly would a hybrid system provide to businesses in terms of automation? How accessible are they now, and what can businesses do to best integrate them when they're ready? Find out in this episode of the podcast. For more interviews about the business applications of AI, visit: www.TechEmergence.com

There's a lot of hype out there about conversational AI. Although according to our guest, we're nowhere near the day when AI can generate accurate conversations for the average business to integrate into their customer service, chatbots still have practical applications. In this episode, we interview the head of research at Digital Genius, Yoram Bachrach. Yoram succinctly outlines the current applications of chatbots—what they can and can't do—and details how business can best prepare to automate their customer service. For more interviews about the applications of AI in industry, visit us online: www.TechEmergence.com

How can machine learning help us advertise through social media? In this episode, Thomas Jelonek, CEO of Envision.ai, talks to us about how in the next five years, machine learning might automate the laborious guess-and-check process of finding visual content with which users can engage. Right now, finding images and videos that will best generate engagement is a task reserved for a human. He or she shifts through images and video clips that may work for an audience based on anecdotal evidence and perception of past post success. Learn how, according to Thomas, machine learning could help you save time and money, generate you a better ROI, and build you a larger list with more accurate targeting on social media. For more interviews with AI experts, visit: www.TechEmergence.com

This episode explores the ways in which artificial intelligence has the potential to revolutionize the field of medicine. This week's guest, Dr. Kristóf Zsolt Szalay speaks to this topic, discussing research that hopes to create automated learning networks and algorithms designed to predict the development of human cells in response to drugs. This technological innovation would make it possible for near-instantaneous simulations to be run, allowing optimal combinations and optimal doses of drugs to be pinpointed and distributed to patients. For more interviews on the applications and implications of AI in business, visit: www.TechEmergence.com

In this episode, discover how chatbots and conversational agents can provide you an advantage in the realms of customer support, product, support, lead engagement, and more, and learn the theory behind creating useful chatbots you can use in your own business. Right now, if we intend to find a piece of information or purchase something on the Internet, we might use a search engine that provides us with a list of sites we can browse in order to find ourselves a resolution for that intent. This week's guest, Chief Scientist at Conversica, Dr. Sid J Reddy, talks about how AI and ML can usher in the next a new era of search software, one that will bring you a faster, more accurate resolution to your intent. Most importantly, Dr. Reddy discusses how chatbot technology can be integrated into areas such as customer service, product support, and lead engagement. By the end of the episode, listeners will have a better idea of the importance of collecting data and how they can use that data to to build chatbot templates they can use in multiple domains and applications. For more interviews on the business applications of AI, visit: www.TechEmergence.com

This week on AI in Industry, we speak to Paul Barba (Chief Scientist at Lexalytics) about what how companies are using natural language processing, and what it takes (in terms of expertise, time, and training) to get these systems working. From sentiment analysis to categorization, Paul walks us through interesting and fruitful use-cases and sheds light on the back-end "tweaking" required to keep NLP productive in a changing business environment. For more interviews on the applications of AI in business, visit: www.TechEmergence.com

In this episode, we speak with Alan O'Herlihy, Founder and CEO of Ireland-based Everseen. Alan speaks to us about how machine vision systems can be used to detect theft or mistakes at a checkout counter (including forgetting to scan items, customers intentionally hiding items, and more). Alan not only explains where these technologies are in use today, but he also breaks down some of his own predictions about what these computer vision systems might make possible in the workplace of tomorrow. For more interviews and use-cases of AI in industry, visit: TechEmergence.com

In this episode, we talk to Murali Aravamudan, Founder and CEO of AI-driven drug discovery startup Qrativ, a joint venture by the Mayo Clinic and biotech/data science firm reference. Murali and I discuss the surge of medical information and data in the medical industry, the role of artificial intelligence in developing drugs for treatments to various diseases, and the future of AI in drug discovery. For more in-depth interviews on the business applications of artificial intelligence, find us online at: www.TechEmergence.com

In this episode, we talk to Daniel Nigrin, MD, Senior Vice President and CIO at Boston Children's Hospital. Daniel and I discuss why hackers have come to prey on the healthcare industry, how these hackers benefit from their illicit activities, and what healthcare IT security precautions can be taken to prevent such attacks. For more interviews on AI applications in business, visit: www.TechEmergence.com

Natural language processing has gained more and more attention with the raise of (or rather, the "fad" of) chatbots. Despite the flurry of press releases from companies about their conversational agents (only a few of which seem to be delivering real business value), few business leaders understand the value of NLP for customer service, sales enablement, or eCommerce. In this week's episode of AI in Industry we interview Narjes Boufaden, computational linguistics PhD and CEO of Keatext, an NLP company based in Montreal. Narjes explores the possible business applications of NLP - specifically for customer service and customer experience - and she also explains (in layman's terms) how NLP systems are trained and integrated into businesses today. The ROI on this episode (in my opinion), is a firm understanding of what NLP can and cannot do, and what business applications it can realistically solve today. I was fortunate to meet Narjes in person during my Montreal trip, and I'm glad we were able to bring her on the program shortly thereafter. For more expert interviews on the business applications of AI, visit: www.TechEmergence.com

As a human, we can often understand the mood, intention, and future action of another person just by looking at them. We see their posture, their facial expression, where their eyes are focused, and we can get a decent understanding of what they might do next. The problem of computer vision for body language is a much harder problem to solve, but we are indeed making progress. Our guest this week is Paul Kruszewski, an computer science PhD who's spent nearly the last 20 years focused on 3D modeling and artificial intelligence. Today, he's CEO of Wrnch, a Montreal-based AI company focused on reading and understanding human body language. Paul explains how advances in 3D modeling and computer vision have allowed researchers to get machines to "understand" the posture, movements, and intentions of human being - and he also helps explore the future applications that this technology might have in security, retail, sports, and more. For more interviews on the applications of AI in business, visit: TechEmergence.com

In the future, the vast majority of photos and videos recorded won't be seen and used by humans - they'll be seen and used by machines. This week we interview Allan Benchetrit, CEO at Algolux - a Montreal-based AI company focusing on computational imaging. If you take an image for a human being in a consumer application (maybe an iPhone app or a recreational DSLR camera), you probably want it to be visually appealing and clear to the human eye. As it turns out, machines don't need pretty images, they need to do their jobs. If a computer vision system needs to detect road signs, or suspicious people in an airport, or the presence of weeds in a cornfield - it may create images that are ugly to the human eye, but perfectly calibrated for being interpreted by machines for their jobs. As it turns out, this is a complicated AI-related problem itself, and Allan walks us through it. If your business uses cameras heavily - or may do so in the future - this interview will provide an around-the-corner look at what it takes to create effective computer vision applications. For more expert interviews about the business applications of artificial intelligence, visit: www.TechEmergence.com

Procurement isn't usually seen as a "sexy" aspect of a business's operations. Procurement personnel are responsible for sourcing suppliers or vendors, determining criterion of success, negotiating deal terms, and tracking results and deliverables - all of which could be considered "under appreciated" work. This week, Tamr's Eliot Knudsen walks us through the ways that AI is making it's way into the procurement process, and what it means for the future of this job function. For more executive interviews about the applications and implications of AI, visit: www.TechEmergence.com

This week we speak with Bastiaan Janmaat (CEO and co-Founder of DataFox) about the current and future applications of artificial intelligence in the CRM. No matter what business you're in, there's a high likelihood that managing relationships with customers, wholesalers, suppliers, or affiliates is important to your daily operations. Artificial intelligence is currently being employed to help with automating data entry, automating email and phone reminders, and even prompting salespeople with the right phone scripts in real time. In addition to covering "what's being done now" - spend the end of the interview asking Bastiaan about his predictions of the most likely AI-for-CRM capabilities that will become commonplace in the next 5 years. For more AI executive interviews, and insights into current and future AI trends that are shaking up industries, visit: www.TechEmergence.com

Artificial intelligence is coming - should be worried about our jobs? Well, it depends. Our guest Dr. Kevin LaGrandeur spent the last two years researching the impacts of automation and artificial intelligence on society and the job market. In this interview on AI in Industry, we explore the near future of AI's impact on the world of work, and I ask Kevin some important questions, including: What skills are least "automate-able" in the next decade? What middle class professions have the greatest risk of automation, and what should those professionals be doing now to hedge against job loss? What should business leaders be doing now to prepare for "phasing out" work while still taking care of their employees? For more interviews with AI executives and researchers (and more insight on applying AI in your organization) - visit us online at: www.TechEmergence.com

Though we don't think about it on a daily basis - the technologies around us often "work" because of an underlying standard that they depend on. These technologies include: Wifi, ethernet, fax, and much of the internet itself. Do certain AI applications need their own set of standards in order to scale? Imagine if you needed a new type of cable or input every time you wanted to jack your computer into the wall? Imagine if you needed different hardware to pick up wifi in every location you moved around to? Imagine if all websites had totally different protocols for how they were loaded or served to your computer? If this were the case, it would be extremely challenging for a robust "ecosystem" of internet companies and technologies to emerge, because the technology wouldn't scale or work well at all. This week we interview Konstantinos Karachalios,‎ Managing Director of the Standards Association at the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE). Konstantinos holds a PhD in Physical and previously worked for 25 years at the European Patent Office. He speaks with us this week about the kinds of AI standards that may need to arise in order for AI to be safe and trusted enough to support a business ecosystem. Konstantinos also speaks to us about some of the current AI standards that IEEE is working on developing currently, and the implications they might have businesses everywhere.

It would be great if instead of having our car break down - could have them fixed as soon as the underlying problem began. It would be great if instead of having to diagnose a malfunctioning piece of mechanical equipment - would could have the right "fix" presented to us immediately. As it turns out, artificial intelligence may be working its way to accomplish both of those goals in the not-so-distance future. This week we interview Tilak Katsuri, CEO of Predii, a predictive maintenance AI company based on Palo Alto. Predii focuses on helping service people by using AI and sensor data to prescribe proper repairs. In this episode, Tilak speaks with us about what's currently possible within the world of "predictive maintenance," as well as the possible ramifications of industrial IoT and AI in the next 5 years. For more interviews about the real-world applications of artificial intelligence in business, visit: www.TechEmergence.com

A huge percentage of digital advertising dollars today go to Google and Facebook, who dominate that sector - and are inevitably central for the future of programmatic advertising. There's a lot of evidence to suggest that the growth in digital advertising in the last two to three years has gone almost entirely into their coffers. At least for the foreseeable future, Facebook and Google will retain the ability to dominate that space. The ability to be able to bid for the attention of particular target audiences, whether they're searching for a specific term, live in a specific place or they like a specific sports team, is something that doesn't seem to be going away, and seems to be rather efficient, thanks in the large part to Artificial Intelligence. In this episode we talk to Lior Tasman who is the CEO of PredictiveBid, an Israeli-based predictive advertising optimization start-up. The team focuses on applying AI to some of the bigger issues in programmatic advertising to help draw out more ROI from ads. We discuss some of the challenges of programmatic advertising and what the future of programmatic advertising may look like from an advertiser's perspective. For more executive interviews on the applications of AI in Industry, visit: TechEmergence.com

The big tech giants, such as Amazon, Google and Netflix, tend to set the stage in a lot of different domains and set public expectations to raise the aggregate tide of consumer experience. Our online experience is somewhat different each time we use these and other sites. This is because many of these tech giants alter their experience user per user in a real time iterative fashion in order to create sticky experiences and to beat their competitors. In this episode we talk to Adam Spector, the Co-Founder & Chief Business Officer at LiftIgniter, a company which provide a service which modulates website experience per users, for an array of different businesses. Adam and I discuss what the tech giants are doing to customize their business experiences, what data they're using to continually alter user experience and what industries and sectors might be impacted by this aggregate trend as it moves forward. See more interviews with AI industry innovators at: www.TechEmergence.com

Imagine you work in a large organization with tens of thousands of employees across multiple countries, a business that's been around for over a hundred years, and all of a sudden you have people in one department who are interested in applying chatbots, colleagues in another department who wish to implement sentiment analysis and still another department that wants to begin using AI for fraud and risk analysis. How do you manage to put all these pieces together? That is exactly the situation that Muriel Serrurier Schepper found herself in. Muriel is the Business Consultant Advanced Data Analytics & Artificial Intelligence at Rabobank Digital Bank in Naarden, Netherlands. In this episode, Muriel and I discuss the Artificial Intelligence Center of Excellence at Rabobank, where she manages projects and has connected ad virtual and physical team across the company which is comprised of over 60,000 employees spread across the world. For more interviews on the applications of AI in industry, visit: www.TechEmergence.com

If you work in healthcare, or in an established business that is looking to implement AI for the first time - then this won't be an interview you'll want to miss. AYASDI is one of those rare AI startups that has raised over $100MM since its inception in 2008. This week on the "AI in Industry" podcast, Sangeeta Chakraborty of AYASDI breaks down some of AI's important recent applications in the healthcare field. She also explores how hospitals are "modernizing" their processes and systems to include data science and AI applications - and we pick apart those "modernizing" strategies in a way that makes them applicable to nearly any "stodgy" business or industry that is just beginning to implement AI. For more interviews, research, and case studies on AI in industry, visit: www.TechEmergence.com