“We started in one direction and as we moved forward we began to see another, more exciting opportunity!” - Simon Dunlop

Artificial Intelligence

Simon looked a little bleary-eyed.  He had flown forty-five hundred miles.  I recognized that jetlagged look.  I’ve seen it in the mirror many times over the years.  Yet, there was also another look visible in Simon’s otherwise twinkling eyes.  Those same eyes are a portal to a distinctive view of intuitive human intelligence.

Simon’s company, Instreamatic, is a Google-backed Artificial Intelligence (AI) company that helps brands, such as Google, listen to and understand consumer needs through advertising engagement.  They started their venture by building an extensive audio advertising network with an interactive voice AI component. Since then, they’ve gone on to build a powerful AI platform that understands unstructured and free-form user responses. It’s become the core of a new kind of intelligence tool.

New tool; combined with human intuition! 

While meeting with Simon on Wednesday, last, the enduring impression I kept having was his own humanistic tools.  I continually recognized his specific intuitive intelligence.  It caused me to have a little private chuckle as our conversation brought to mind a marquee sign, at a local church, once announcing “Not all of life’s answers can be found on Google.”  The story of Simon and his company provides plausible additional meaning to this statement and offers continued introspection for all to consider.

“Simon,” I said.  “What makes your company really stand out to me was something you said when we last talked.  Didn’t you tell me you started out building your intelligence product to be able to push specific products to people through voice interaction?  But, along the way you discovered something unexpected and much more meaningful?”

“Yes.”  He answered. “We started in one direction and as we moved forward we began to see another, more exciting opportunity!”

“That’s it!  I think you also said, along the way forward you were able to discover something that Google couldn’t see or anticipate?”

“Yes.”  He responded again.  “This put us in an interesting position because they’re one of our principal investors and we wanted to be sure we were providing them with the value they were looking for.  At the same time, we discovered something we believed would benefit them and our other investors much more than predicted.”

“I would characterize your discovery, use of your technology, as an opportunity to move forward from “market push” to “market-pull,” because it allows you to find what loyal customers have in common, what unhappy customers have in common and how this changes trends over time. Is that right?”

“I would say it allows us to quickly see commonalities, so our customers can provide people what they’re looking for.  This is different than working to sell their customers something they don’t really want or need.”  Simon concurred.

“Not all of life’s answers can be found on Google.”  I snickered internally again, as I looked across our shared table into the eyes of one exhibiting intuitive human intelligence.  Simon Dunlop’s eyes.

Simon looked a little bleary-eyed.  After all, he had just flown forty-five hundred miles.  I recognized that jetlagged look.  I’ve seen it in the mirror many times over the years.  Yet, there was also another look visible in Simon’s otherwise twinkling eyes.  Those same eyes are a portal to a distinctive view of the significance of intuitive human intelligence.

The kind of artificial intelligence that expresses unique, human value.