In last week’s Quest for Quality Conference online on October 27th, the industry leaders together discussed the theme of ‘Demystifying AI technology’
KOREA IT TIMES met online with Davar Ardalan who was a speaker at that conference and Founder and Storyteller in Chief at IVOW AI. She talked about the storytelling and education space of their own Sina Storyteller which is a conversational AI with a unique appreciation for global cultures.
Can you describe your current role at IVOW AI?
I am the Founder and Storyteller in Chief at IVOW AI. We are a women-led, startup focusing on cultural intelligence in AI. Together with my colleagues Nikki McLay in New Zealand, Kee Malesky in Washington D.C. and Nisa McCoy in Columbus Ohio, we empower our clients to incorporate cultural richness, inclusive datasets, and traditional storytelling solutions into their technology. IVOW stands for intelligent voices of wisdom.
What were some key trends discussed at the Quest for Quality event?
Lots of dynamic conversations on testing. I had the chance to get to know Tariq King of test.ai at last year's Quest for Quality. He continues to reiterate the fact that the testing community has a role to play in the engineering of trustworthy AI-based systems. More specifically, on the issue of AI bias, Tariq says testers have the necessary skills to directly contribute to preventing, detecting, and reducing unwanted bias in AI systems.
How seamlessly will AI operations interact with human workers in the future?
The future of civic life and commerce will be driven in large part by conversational interfaces like speech-based personal assistants, chatbots, and AI-powered customer support services. Nonetheless, the current tools available to customers and brands lack the sophistication to engage users with cultural richness. This diminishes the return on automation investment capital and weakens the potency of brand engagement. Nothing will be seamless until we bring more cultural intelligence to AI.
What sectors do you feel are particularly suitable for AI applications?
We are excited about the storytelling and education space. Our own Sina Storyteller (currently prototype on Google home) is a conversational AI with a unique appreciation for global cultures. Sina can tell you stories about great women in history, ancient traditions, and vibrant food cultures from around the world. You can also see a collaboration we did with Soul Machines as part of the virtual Women in AI Summit in September 2020. Soul Machine’s Autonomous Animation Platform is powered by the world’s only “digital brain” and its digital people are astonishing. Our work to bring a cultural lens to this world of exponential AI is exciting. As a messenger of human stories, having an expressive human face helps Sina advance her mission of connecting with people through culture.
Cultural AI and Brands from Davar Ardalan on Vimeo.
What is your company’s main area of focus currently? Do you have any major developments planned over the next 12 months?
We plan to expand our focus on cultural intelligence in AI with a focus on Sina and our CultureGraph. You can access a prototype of Sina on Google Home by asking for “Sina Storyteller.” Next time you are in your kitchen, ask Sina to tell you a story about the traditional foods of the ancient festival of Diwali; she also knows recipes from the Navajo and Cherokee nations. Or ask her how machine learning can help us keep ancient cultural knowledge alive. We plan to expand Sina beyond a prototype.
