The AI in Business Podcast

With a burning desire to combine his passions for digital fabrication, biology and computer science, Charles Fracchia came to MIT and Harvard eager to learn. Going to "bio to bits" (gleaning meaningful information from biological data) is something that Charles had never had an opportunity to do at such a high level, and he had high expectations.  "I thought: Oh, surely, I'm coming to these awesom...

Sagie Davidovich has founded and served as CTO for a number of startups in the technology field, including the semantic web. Now, Sagie's focus has shifted with his new company SparkBeyond - to the future of software. Namely, it's increasing adaptability to entirely new levels of modification and evolution. Sagie discusses his own work in developing "Liquidware," and the forces at play today in th...

Neil Patel co-founder of KISSmetrics, CrazyEgg, and HelloBar - and has for years toured the country speaking on web marketing and web business. Many people know him from his massively popular blog "QuickSprout" (www.quicksprout.com), or from his many appearances at major web and web business events. In this episode, I pick Neil's brain with regards to some common questions around founding a fast-g...

Ari Popper is a renown consultant and businessman in the technology domain. Also an avid writer - Ari's present business venture at SciFutures involves crafting a story and positive, flourishing future trajectory for companies. His other company, A2O Technologies, uses emerging technology (like augmented reality [AR] and 3-D printing) to bring those visions to life. Learn more online at: www. Sent...

Peter Voss started a technology company as a young man and brought it to the Johannesburg stock exchange, and sold it. Financially independent, Peter explored research in artificial intelligence, and then came back into business ten years later with his company "Adaptive Artificial Intelligence."  In our interview, we discuss the applications / ramifications of AI in business, as well as Peter's b...

Dr. Thomas Ray spent years studying life in the rainforest after earning his PhD in Biology from Harvard. Years later - fascinated with evolution and the idea of replicating the evolutionary process, he founded the Tierra project - one of the first successful research projects to replicate evolutionary adaptation in a digital environment. In our interview here, we discuss Dr. Ray's views on the po...

Klint Finley has written for a vast number of technology media sources, including TechCrunch - and his present job with WIRED. One of his most popular topics is "Big Data," and in this interview we break down this buzz-word into an understanding of it's meaning and it's implications (including potentially unexpected ways it's being leveraged today). For the full interview and article visit: Sentie...

Dr. Helgi Helgason points out the the field of Artificial General Intelligence (AGI) has really only been around since 2008, but that at last there is an interdisciplinary effort to attain a level of general intelligence in machines. In our interview we talk about his research, the most promising applications of AGI, and potential issues with the development of the field today.   Full interview on...

Dr. Robin Hanson is a recognized thought leader in the ramifications of emerging technology on economics and society. Being a featured speaker at the Singularity Summit, a research advisor for the Machine Intelligence Research Institute, and a prolific writer on the topic of existential risk and emerging technology. In this interview, we cover the trouble of honestly looking at future topics, and...

Aubrey de Grey is possibly the most well-known proponent of the anti-aging movement. His work at the SENS foundation has been pivotal in bringing attention and legitimate scientific gusto to the problem of eliminating aging as a cause of death and detriment. What does he think about "death as a good thing," or about the progress made thus far on curing aging? Tune into the intereview here.

Dr. Ben Goertzel is widely recognized as the father of Artificial General Intelligence - or the study of super-human artificial intelligence that is not limited to a certain subject, activity, or domain. Through his leadership this "AGI" field has taken shape, and his leadership at the OpenCog Foundation continues to be a driving force in the progress towards human-level intelligence in machines....

As far back as Homer's Illiad (and beyond), man has written about creating autonata to do the tasks we don't want to do. Generally, this is the dull, the dirty, and the dangerous work that no human would want to do. Interestingly, in most - if not all - of the historical examples of robot and android servants, they turn against their creators and lead to their downfall. Coincidence? Is this an eng...

What's up with the Japanese and all their robots? What makes the Japanese perspective on robotics and technology so much different than out own here in America? Reno has spent over a dozen years in Japan, and continues to be a prolific writer and contributor in the domains of transhumanism, emerging technology, technology and social change, and robotics. In this interview we delve into the social...

How does the development of video games relate to AI's increasing role in our lives? How can games provide us with insight for applications everywhere? Jeff Orkin is a PhD in Artificial Intelligence from MIT, and co-founder of GiantOtter, a technology company built around Jeff's own work at MIT - where he took the data from real people playing "roles" in video games, and used that data (rather tha...

Massimiliano is CEO of Neurala, a Boston-based Robotics Startup company whose mission is to develop autonomy in machines. In this interview, we talk about the founding of the Startup team, Massimiliano's advice to keeping a diverse team cohesive, and his predictions for the ramifications of robotics and "telepresence" in society and work. Some notable quotes: "People will drive to work less often,...

Karl F. MacDorman received his PhD in Machine Learning from Cambridge University, and went on to teach at Osaka University - where he worked with some of the world's top roboticists. His research and writings are widely published, and his past experience as a CTO of two different venture companies gives him an even wider scope of the applications and implications of emerging technology. Here we di...

Jim Karkanias is a Partner in Applied Research and Technology at Microsoft. His formal training is in the domain of information systems, and he's now working with a team at Microsoft (Health Solutions Group) in the area of genetic technologies. His perspective on the seeming inevitability of human enhancement involves Positivism in medicine, and taking biology / genetics from a "black box" to a "w...

Tim Stevens is Editor in Chief at Engadget, and he's one of the first people outside of Google to wear Google Glass. In this podcast, Tim talks about his experience with "Glass" (as it is often called), in addition to some potential visions of future augmentation, and the natural extensions of technologies like Glass. We then explore potential possiblities and concerns of Virtual Reality, Personal...