LEADERSHIP
This is called the LEAF evolutionary AI framework . We ’ re a product company and currently support two products .
Sentient has clearly evolved rapidly but where do your roots lie and where is the business moving ? Sentient started off building a hedge fund that is AI-powered by LEAF core technology . It launched back in 2016 and established a pretty good life track record – and it ’ s growing . It ’ s now open for investments into the fund . For the past two years or so , Sentient has been focused on digital marketing and full-funnel AI enablement . When we think of the digital marketing industry , consumers are coming in through ads and outreached to a journey typically online or on mobile . That journey is a mix of exploration and exploitation .
These customers want to know what services are available , or they might have in mind a particular product they ’ re looking for , and then that leads to some form of conversion . For example , buying a product or signing up for a service . Or not . At this point , the business might want to remarket back to them to get them back . That whole journey is orchestrated by the LEAF core platform . The first product we have in that area is web and mobile optimization , a fullfunnel , multi-variant CRO product called Sentient Ascend . It ’ s a fast product to get up and running , with only a couple of lines of javascript required to be inserted in a website ’ s header , and it ’ s AI-enabled . That product is growing at a fast pace . We have a large community of companies using it and the principle of the product is that we ’ re not only brokering the relationship between consumer and service or product and enabling that exploration and exploitation but , at the same time , we are optimizing and maximizing the KPIs of the business that provides that relationship . The centerpiece is the AI .
What are the key challenges of running an AI-focused business , specifically regarding expectations versus reality and the hype that tends to surround AI systems and products ? It ’ s a difficult one , and there are many , but typically it ’ s around posing a problem and expecting AI to come up with a solution . Within that , there are challenges around actually posing the problem correctly and how to use the technology , which is quite complex in itself . There ’ s also a challenge regarding how you
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