The world’s leading specialist in web analytics and the new era of AI: “More than intelligence, it’s automation. That’s the game changer”

-Why is it important for companies to update their business models by using AI to their advantage?

-We are living through a fundamentally transformative time. A time when Gen Z is coming online and getting into the workforce, when AI and technology in general are changing dramatically people’s fundamental behaviors around shopping, both on and offline.

Most of the time I find that our audience in the marketing area is maybe two years ahead of where their respective companies are. And this is very true right now. So, I’m a big believer, that companies should strongly encourage their employees to use these new tools and technologies in their day-to-day jobs.

-And how does this view apply to Chile?

-For companies in Chile, if they want to use some of the Gen AI features, they should use some advanced algorithms which they are easily available on the fingertips. All employees can get access pretty easily and I strongly recommend that companies empower their workforce to use these tools.

-How has Chile been implementing AI in the marketing area?

-I do find that Chile in the early stage of this technological revolution. Companies are still trying to figure out how to use this in the e-commerce space and how to leverage the technology to improve their processes and structures. So, I think Chile is in an early stage.

-What is missing in Chile? How to move forward?

-Regarding the use of AI , we have to make sure that the people at the very top of the companies feel both a little bit scared and a little bit excited to push this technology. It’s good to be scared in this case because their decisions affect and have consequences for all the organization.

In addition, we have to make sure that we adequately manage expectations and that we don’t make false promises with AI and with tech in general. Because at the moment, there are many ghosts that can be chased that may not lead to anything.

-How can the media can implement AI, for example, for advertising purposes?

-One of the most challenging aspects for media companies right now is to make money. So, we are using AI and algorithms to predict the behavior of customers and target more people that could become subscribers. We are using AI to reduce churn. So, we may personalize their experience, give them more targeted offers, and basically help to retain them. In short, AI can improve the efficiency of advertising by focusing on behaviors, not demographics only.

-How so?

-For example, the New York Times publishes 20 articles every minute. I can’t consume them. AI allows media entities to able to understand behavior and therefore deliver right content. This leads ultimately to a happy longer term subscriber.

-What do you think of those people who believe that AI is dangerous and that it is going to dominate the world ?

-There is a lot that is unpredictable about AI. Anybody who tells you that they know what is going to happen is not informed very well. So, I am among those people who are AI optimists.

There will be a period of adjustment. So, actually, for our generation, as we think about the next 20 years, we will have to make a lot of adjustments about what it that we are doing, what automation will come to our jobs, in media or marketing. I think there is definitely some pain for us to go through, to adjust to this new reality with this intelligence, and more than intelligence, it’s automation. The big game changer is actually automation.

-Where do you see AI having the biggest impact ?

-Over time, what is happening is, we will be able to use human plus AI to do better things, bigger things. What I am really excited about, the most exciting thing about AI to me, is the impact it is going to have on human life. The diseases that it will cure.

Two weeks ago, there was a first trial of a cancer drug, that was delivered to six people. The cancer is terminal, which means they will die, unfortunately. But this custom drug, customized to the DNA of each person, built with AI, means that they had 100% remission.

I am blown away. When I was at Google, there was a project to use the camera of your cell phone to detect diabetic retinopathy, a disease. In India, where I was born, there are not enough eye doctors in the country to detect it. But if detected on time, lives con be saved. Now, people just take a photo of the eye and machine will tell them if they have it or not. It will catch the disease in time.

-In other words, we hope that it can prolong people’s lives?

-Your life has already been extended, and will extend more. And it will not be 110 where you are not healthy. You will have a good life. So that I’m excited about it.

The thing I’m scared about, I don’t know how governments will use AI. I’m not sure how, what the Chinese government will do with AI. What the American government will do with AI. The use of AI in weapons, for example.

-What things to be careful with today? Like fake videos using AI.

-t’s very common. So, disinformation has been around as long as humans are around. There’s disinformation in the pyramids. It’s a very human thing to do. What AI has done is just put it into the world at scale, like in a way that has never been happening in human history.

But there are companies and countries thinking about how to identify what is real. And so, Adobe has said, for example, if you use the Gen AI solutions to create video and photos, they will put something obvious there that will indicate this is created using AI. Everybody has not agreed to it, but I find solutions like that will emerge.

But it’s really honest to admit that for the next 10 to 15 years, we will go through a chaotic evolution.