Georgian Partners

The evolution of natural language processing means that <a href="https://georgian.io/what-is-conversational-ai/" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">chatbots</a> are finally learning how to, well, chat. In this episode, we talk with Jeff Orkin, head of Drift's AI Lab who is using AI to create positive, personalized customer interactions in real-time, at scale.

Jeff Orkin is the Head of the Drift AI Lab and has been developing systems to understand human behavior and language for over 20 years. He was the founder and CEO of Giant Otter where he built on his Ph.D research at the MIT Media Lab, using machine learning to mine actionable insights from recordings of people talking to one another. Prior to MIT, Jeff spent a decade working in the videogame industry. 

Jeff Orkin

Head of the Drift AI Lab

AI Chatbots at Drift with Jeff Orkin

Blog

On Georgian's Impact Podcast,  we get into the latest tech trends and how they impact growth-stage software companies. 

Jon talks with folks from around the tech ecosystem at the intersection of business and technology. 


The Georgian Impact Podcast | AI, ML & More

The evolution of natural language processing means that <a href="https://georgian.io/what-is-conversational-ai/" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">chatbots</a> are finally learning how to, well, chat. In this episode, we talk with Jeff Orkin, head of Drift's AI Lab who is using AI to create positive, personalized customer interactions in real-time, at scale. You’ll Hear About:<ul><li>Jeff’s background in video game development and how it led to his startup Giant Otter.</li><li>Why context is the key to conversations.</li><li><a href="https://www.drift.com/blog/jeff-orkin-giant-otter/" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">Drift’s acquisition of Giant Otter</a> and how the two benefitted each other. </li><li>How using a “human in the loop” leads to smarter chatbots, and avoids pitfalls of the past. </li><li>How Drift’s platform allows non-experts to build complex bots. </li><li>The need for <a href="https://georgian.io/building-conversational-ai-team-2/" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">multidisciplinary and diverse teams</a> when working on bots. </li></ul>

Tech jobs are in huge demand, so as the interviewer you need to understand what you are looking for. How does your company compare to other companies the candidate may be looking at? Are you focused only on the skills needed right now, or are you focused on what you will need as your company grows? Hiring the right technical candidate for your company couldn’t be more challenging than it is today. Kathryn Christie is our guest on this episode of the Georgian Impact Podcast. She is the Head of People at Georgian, and will help you to understand what it takes to determine who’s right for your company, and how to get them to yes.

You’ll Hear About:
The important role culture plays in recruitment.
How smaller companies can leverage their vision to attract technical candidates.
How to assess candidates on their work and the work you need to get done.
Understanding what stage your company is at, hiring to address what is required now and down the road.
The importance of creating a recruiting organization mindset.

Kathryn is Head of People at Georgian where she focuses on talent management strategies that drive sustained and measurable organizational success. Prior to Georgian, Kathryn worked in Talent Management Consulting, Talent Acquisition, and Leadership Development across a variety of industries including CPG, Financial Services and Higher Education. Kathryn holds a Master's of Science in Organizational Behaviour and is a Certified Professional in Talent Development.     

Kathryn Christie

Head of People

technical talent, hiring in tech, hiring machine learning

Attracting Top Technical Talent with Kathryn Christie

When AI needs a personality, you need a team of creatives to work hand-in-with hand the technical folks.
Deborah Harrison, our guest on this episode of the Georgian Impact Podcast, is one of those creatives. She talks about how she and her team at Microsoft developed Cortana, Microsoft's conversational assistant.

Deborah Harrison is the Senior Content Experience Manager at Microsoft where she leads a team of writers who are industry experts in personality design, dialogue authoring, and machine learning. She has over a decade of technical and editorial writing experience with Microsoft, including being one of the original architects of Cortana's personality principles, and served as the first author for all of Cortana's dialogs. Deborah received her BA in English Language and Literature/Letters from Wesleyan University and a Certificate in Technical Writing and Editing from the University of Washington. 

Deborah Harrison

Senior Content Experience Manager 

When AI needs a personality, you need a team of creatives to work hand-in-hand with the technical folks.
Deborah Harrison, our guest on this episode of the Georgian Impact Podcast, is one of those creatives. 

Getting Conversational AI Right at Microsoft

It used to be you could trust what you saw. With the prevalence of deep fakes and other synthetic media, today it isn’t always so easy knowing what is real and what isn’t. Kathryn Harrison is our guest on this episode of the Georgian Impact Podcast. She is the founder and CEO of the DeepTrust Alliance and FixFake, a company with the data and expertise to find fakes and fight fraud.

Kathryn Harrison is the founder and CEO of the DeepTrust Alliance, a non-profit building the solutions and ecosystem to tackle deep fakes and misinformation. Prior to founding the DeepTrust Alliance, Kathryn spent nearly a decade at IBM. Kathryn began her career in financial services at Gerson Lehrman Group in New York and Hong Kong. Kathryn has a Bachelor of Science the School of Foreign Service at Georgetown University, an MBA from the Wharton School and an MA from the Lauder Institute both at the University of Pennsylvania.

Kathryn

Harrison

Tackling Digital Disinformation with Kathryn Harrison

Imagine a future where our technology interacts with us the same way we do with one another through conversation, perception and empathy. <a href="https://www.affectiva.com/who/leadership-team/">Dr. Rana el Kaliouby</a> is our guest on this episode of the <a href="https://georgian.io/resources/?t=3288">Georgian Impact Podcast</a>. She is the CEO and Co-founder of Affectiva, a pioneer in the field of Emotion AI and Human Perception AI and author of the book Girl Decoded.
You’ll Hear About:
● Her journey to humanize technology starting from The American University in Cairo, to Cambridge, and then MIT.
● How her life experiences helped to influence and inspire her vision for technology.
● Her transition from working with people with autism to commercial uses of her techniques.
● The challenge of turning down opportunities in order to stay true to established core values.
● The importance of diversity in not just your team, but also in the data.
● Work life balance and making mental health a priority.

Rana is co-founder and CEO of Affectiva. Having defined the category of Emotion AI, Rana is now pioneering Human Perception AI: technology that can understand all things human.  A passionate advocate for innovation, ethics in AI and diversity, Rana has been recognized on Fortune’s 40 Under 40 and Forbes America’s Top 50 Women in Tech. Rana is a World Economic Forum Young Global Leader.  She holds a PhD from the University of Cambridge and a Post Doctorate at MIT.

Rana

el Kaliouby

Understanding Emotion with AI, with Rana el Kaliouby

Is there such a thing as a problem people wish they had? When it comes to challenges in scaling your business, the answer is yes. Allan Leinwand is our guest on this episode of the Georgian Impact Podcast. He is the Senior Vice President of Engineering at Slack, this is a person who knows all about scaling.


Allan Leinwand is responsible for engineering and operations at Slack.

Before joining Slack, Allan was Chief Technology Officer at ServiceNow, where he was responsible for overseeing all technical aspects and strategy. He has co-founded and held senior leadership positions at multiple companies and was a venture capital investor for seven years. 

Leinwand previously served as an adjunct professor at the University of California, Berkeley where he taught on the subjects of computer networks, network management and network design. He holds a BS in Computer Science from the University of Colorado at Boulder.


Allan Leinwand 

SVP Engineering at Slack

The Challenges of Scaling Your Business With Slack’s Allan Leinwand

You might think that getting your customer base to adopt your AI product is a sales and marketing challenge. But it starts much earlier in the product lifecycle, with empathy for your customers’ problems, creating solutions that fit into their workflow and building trust that you’re treating their data with care. Three pillars of AI product management.
Frank Emery, our guest on this episode of the Georgian Impact Podcast, takes us through how Fiix is accomplishing this. They’re connecting teams, tools, data and processes to get critical insights, scale maintenance programs and boost asset performance.

Frank Emery is the Sr. Product Manager - Applied A.I. at Fiix Software. He has close to a decade of experience in product management having worked at Bibliocommons, Points, and ecobee. Frank received his MBA from the University of Toronto’s Rotman School of Management.

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