BigR.io is a consulting firm focused on machine learning – neural networks, predictive modeling, natural language processing – for a variety of clients. They are also a company in the early stages of developing a platform for conversational artificial intelligence (AI) and unlocking the holy grail of its functionality – emotion detection – by defining and interpreting human voice tones, inflections, and context.
At the same time the wider AI industry is growing rapidly, the conversational AI space is still very nascent by vertical and by product category. Early industry participants – Amazon, Google, Apple – have begun shaping consumer expectations by demonstrating the benefits of a voice-centric environment.
Research and consultancy Park Associates, in their 2017 registration walled white paper, “Impact of Voice on Connected Consumer Markets”, argues there are presently three consumer markets: intelligent personal assistants such as Apple’s Siri, smart speakers with personal assistants such as Amazon’s Echo, and smart home devices such as Google’s Nest Thermostat.
However, opportunities for voice-first platforms are much broader. How valuable would an AI “agent” be at a kiosk, restaurant, hotel, or rental agency to physical retailers as they manage customer expectations, understand client preferences, and identify ways to differentiate their product experience? How important would a “voice” microphone interaction icon be to online retailers in the travel, banking or transportations sectors as they seek to personalize services? How helpful would an AI “avatar” or digital pair of glasses be for someone with impaired vision in order to engage with the world around them in more fulfilling ways?
In the defense space, use cases abound from applications on the battlefield, to intelligence gathering, and cyber-physical systems. For first responders in local communities, an intelligent voice could provide safety context and insight – building blueprints, current temperature and pressure statistics, proximity teammate tracking – to help save lives and protect fire and rescue teams in meaningful ways. There are many other potential examples.
The technical foundation for much of AI’s current potential stems from recent projects by Google, Facebook, Microsoft, and others that have effectively democratized AI via open source libraries and other shared resources. Academic institutions have contributed, as well. Collectively, an inflection point of computing resources, large data sets, and software tools has been reached whereby the critical mass to develop general and narrow AI applications and platforms now exist for teams with the understanding and skill to build them.
So, what is BigR.io doing in the conversational AI space that is strategic, differentiated, and focused on leveraging competitive advantage? First, BigR.io is focusing resources around Rio Voice, an AI assistant. Rio Voice has been developed and vetted with a travel data set from Carnegie Mellon University. Their initial market focus is to white label products to retailers and ideally a Fortune 1000 company with the operational, marketing, and cultural readiness and financial commitment to realize conversational AI’s potential in their domain. BigR.io is talking with several firms now.
Second, BigR.io is in the early stages of developing an AI platform call Jaxon. Currently in the alpha stage, with development since October 2016, the platform will be designed to provide both a canvas for development – libraries, tools, training data sets, algorithms – and AI services – modeling, open data pipelines, content and analytics management. At its core, BigR.io’s approach is to bypass rules-based solutions – which pervade much of the AI marketplace – and instead focus their energies on the heart of deep learning’s potential – context, sentiment analysis, and emotion detection.
Competitors abound, such as Houndify and MindMeld, now part of Cisco, and they are working quickly to shape emerging industry dynamics and rivalry in their favor. Houndify, with its recent USD $75 million raise is focused on creating a virtual assistant platform for third parties that use their API, add new areas of conversational knowledge, and expand to Europe and Asia. Mindmeld is also focused on the AI assistant market for third parties and offers a platform. In addition, being part of Cisco and with their purchase of Jasper Technologies, it is easy to see MindMeld focusing on the transportation vertical.
The market risks are also significant. The AI industry lacks a defined competitive structure and thus the drivers of profitability and competitive advantage remain unclear. A number of firms highlight interesting uses cases to support racing to build a platform, but a unique algorithm (or a set of them), a successful data testing protocol, and some cloud infrastructure are no substitute for clearly understanding the voice-first needs of a single industry vertical, let alone begin the process of standardizing methods for incorporating conversational AI into an organization’s operational environment. The attitude – build it and they will come – is definitely a part of the AI landscape.
However, despite these hurdles, the value proposition around a voice-first interaction is very compelling. Over time, the way we communicate across a spectrum of mediums – human to human, human to machine, machine to human, machine to machine – will change dramatically. Successful AI firms will be those that understand and shape industry structure first, make clear and definitive tradeoffs second, find competitive advantage third, and finally, really understanding what corporate customers are interested in paying for based on their own customer’s needs. In my view, as a strategist, the biggest challenge of AI will be cultural. Therefore, building emotion detection into conversational AI will be essential for AI’s adoption and long-term success. BigR.io seeks to do just that and differentiate itself.
Like you, I look forward to seeing how BigR.io progresses with Rio Voice and Jaxon as the company continues to build out its platform and find market traction in a dynamic space. These are early, exciting days!
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