The brave new world of practical AI
Every five years or so, the technology world is illuminated and animated with a concept- either a new idea or an advancement in an idea that has been around for decades. These concepts take center-stage in an already crowded “Techosystem” and are developed in the press, at events, and in all manner of conversations. Further, the power of the technology industry- backed as it is with well-resourced marketing—compounds the amplitude of the hype. In this sense, we are undeniably in the era of Artificial Intelligence (AI). There is no doubt about it- AI is real. A storm that has been gathering for 6 decades, AI has reached an advanced state in which scenarios thought impossible 5 years ago have been made possible today. Still, we have barely scratched the surface here, with possible outcomes that at once delight and frighten. That said, the technology hype-machine has also created an enormous number of false claims about AI. Evidence for this is abundant as all-kinds of companies claim great advances in AI and use phrases like “AI-enabled” to describe their products and services, even when doing so has nothing to do with technological advancements and more to do with sleight of hand. Now, extended claims and futuristic thinking are keys to innovation so it’s okay to be patient with some loose claims but when they collectively become an epidemic, we waste too much time and precious energy in separating the wheat from the chaff. Here, I believe it is important to introduce a new term- “Practical AI.” Here, we readily distinguish between theoretical and practical as well as hype versus real. We must be exacting in our use of the term and encourage entrepreneurs and other leaders to be honest as well. It is okay to say “we are developing AI products or AI solutions” versus claiming that an after-the-fact rhetorical bolt-on is sufficient. Dreaming is wonderful but lying is not. The implications of this are vast. Not only with reference to the waste of time and money mentioned above, but also in the investment community which is backing “AI” companies to the tunes of tens-of-billions. Investors have to shrewdly determine if the “AI” being referred to is “Practical AI” or some dreamy derivative thereof. Words matter, even in tech. Let’s make sure we remember this in the era of AI.
Quantarium’s REAL AI for REAL Estate
At Advaiya, we have the pleasure of running across dozens of amazing companies- in technology, services, and product development. These companies range from fledgling startups to the world’s largest technology companies. With such a large range at play, one might ask what the commonalities are. Indeed, that is the million-dollar question- what is the taproot of greatness in companies of any size? A common answer is “People.” Great people make great companies, or so the logic goes. We believe this is true but only partly so. We believe strongly that the sine qua non of greatness is a combination of people and timing. Markets are dynamic- they change. No doubt, this dynamism does not necessarily spell doom for the incumbents but it does bring into question the need for timed adaptation. The history of business is littered with the carcasses of projects and companies that were “too soon” or “too late.” These stories needn’t bear recitation- we’ve all heard about these “Kodak Moments” a lot. Given this, we get excited when we find companies that seem to have their timing perfectly aligned with Market dynamics. One such company is Quantarium, an Artificial Intelligence company in Bellevue, WA. With a team of Data Scientists, Mathematicians, Commercial Executives, and Entrepreneurs, Quantarium applies AI to the vast and important residential real estate industry. The numbers are staggering- residential real estate is the world’s largest asset class, with a world-wide estimated value of almost $200 Trillion. In the United States, this number is closer to $30 Trillion. Despite the size of the asset-class and market, real estate data is still a developing business. Traditional parts of the Real Estate value chain are often isolated from one another and no particular part has comprehensive, timely, and contextual data at its disposal- in an actionable and time-sensitive set up. This is partly due to infrastructure, partly to culture, and partly because the questions surrounding Real Estate are incredibly complex. Indeed, we find that AI, Deep Learning, and scientific Big Data management are necessary to create an accurate and repeatable analytics platform in this multi-variate industry. That’s why we love Quantarium. With the largest and most sophisticated Data Lake in the business and with the speed, scale, and insight driven by AI, they are enhancing the industry. Consider for instance their AVM solution– the best in class- which helps mortgage owners, Banks, and other financial institutions value their residential real estate assets or their Portfolio Analytics that allows for propensity models, if/then scenarios, and other focused and relevant solutions- game-changing solutions that are directly applicable to today’s housing market. This brings us back to the notion of timeliness. Not all claims around Data and AI were paid off in reality; claims abound. Quantarium however developed these solutions painstakingly and got them right before releasing them into the wild. We believe timing is on their side. We are impressed but not robotic cheerleaders. Much remains to be seen, but from our vantage point, Quantarium is a Real AI company that offers Real value to one of the largest markets on the planet. We, at Advaiya, are happy to be a trusted partner of Quantarium supporting their solution vision for Data and AI in the Real Estate industry.