Moe and Jana Eggers meet up at the Lean Startup Conference 2014 to talk about Nara, the personalization engine saving the world from an overwhelming ocean of data.
The Human Side of Artificial Intelligence
One of the more fascinating trends in technology that I follow is the evolution of search. I was surprised to learn that the first search engine was actually developed as a school project by Alan Emtage in 1990 while at McGill University in Montreal. Emtage created ‘Archie’ to index computer files, and make a database of websites searchable for the first time. Of course, they lacked the natural language capabilities of today’s modern search engines; still it was a glimpse into the future of artificial intelligence. Today, search is more akin to discovery – the more you search, the greater the likelihood that you’ll stumble upon something that’s custom designed for you – much like the restaurant recommendation app, Nara. Built by the Cambridge team at Nara Logics, Nara will help you discover new places to eat and new hotels to explore by ‘uncovering connections between places in the world and learning about your tastes.’ The app is as brilliant, as it is addicting, still its future is far bigger than meets the eye. I was excited to spend time with President Jana Eggers at the Lean Startup Conference 2014 and here are a few of the topics we explore:
- How Artificial Intelligence & Neuroscience create breakthrough intelligence
- The tipping point of personalization
- What the Nara App teaches us about relevance
- An overview of how Nara Logics approaches customer development
- Why listening is the key to customer development
- The key questions to ask during the customer development process
- The leader’s role in managing execution