DataDecisionMakers

Community

Elevating human-machine relationships with

no-code, reusable AI
Michelle Zhou, Ph.D., Juji, Inc
@juji_io

April 2, 2022 9:10 AM

Ad: (1:08) Skip Ad

Voir plus
Data Summit
Watch Fu…

Skip Ad
Image Credit: Colin Anderson Productions pty ltd/Getty

We are excited to bring Transform 2022 back in-person July 19 and virtually July 20 - 28.
Join AI and data leaders for insightful talks and exciting networking opportunities. Register
today!

Our abilities to invent and use tools are critical to human evolution. Computers as tools
have certainly advanced humanity since their inception. As computing technologies
advance, human-machine relationships have also been evolving. Initially only computer
developers or programmers can operate computers by giving machine (programming)
instructions that computers can understand and follow. With the development of
graphical user interfaces (GUI), the masses can now operate computers with no code.
The human-machine relationships however
Ad: (1:08) Skip Adremain to be operator-machine

Voir must
relationships, during which humans plus tell machines precisely what to do.
Data Summit
Watch Fu…
With the rise of artificial intelligence (AI) — computers with certain human skills — the
human-machine relationships may be completely redefined. For example, computers
with human visual perceptual skills can augment security personnel to rapidly recognize
Skip Ad
objects in mountains of surveillance images or computers with human language skills
can augment paralegals to summarize large amounts of text documents. However,
teaching machines human skills is a complex, time-consuming process, requiring deep
expertise and programming skills, not to mention the efforts for collecting, cleaning,
and annotating large amounts of training data needed to train machines with desired
skills.

The Data Summit 3

Just like the no-code, GUI-driven computer operations, what if humans, the security
personnel and paralegals alike, can teach machines human skills with no code? Like in
the movie Her, what if we can adopt a turnkey AI assistant with built-in human skills and
easily customize it with no code to meet our specific needs? This vision of no-code,
reusable AI will certainly elevate our current operator-machine relationships to the
supervisor-assistant relationships. Not only will the new relationships enable us
humans to be augmented by AI instead of being replaced by it, but the no-code nature
will also democratize human augmentation.

1. AI by human skills
Ad: (1:08) Skip Ad

Voir plus
Data Summit
Depending on the tasks to be achieved, AI systems are trained to possess different
Watch Fu…

human skills. Figure 1 lists example AI systems by human skills. Certain AI systems use a
single type of human skills, such as human visual perception or linguistic skills, to
Skip identification
perform a specific task, such as object Ad or sentiment analysis. In contrast,
more complex AI systems use multiple human skills together to achieve complex tasks.
For example, a self-driving car must use multiple human skills, such as human visual
perception and decision-making skills, to achieve its driving goals. Likewise, a
conversational AI assistant must employ multiple human skills, such as communication
skills or certain human soft skills (e.g., active listening), to accomplish its tasks.

Figure 1. Example AI systems with different human skills.

2. Multi-level reusable AI
No matter whether an AI system requires a single or multiple human skills to function,
creating an AI system from scratch is always difficult and requires much expertise and
resources. Just like building a car, instead of building it completely from scratch with
raw materials, it would be much easier and quicker if we could quickly customize and
piece together pre-built parts and systems, such as the engine, the wheels and the
brakes.

While there are many no-code, reusable AI ADVERTISEMENT

systems, it is most challenging to enable the

no-code, reuse of a complex AI system, such as
a conversational AI system, because of the
technology complexity involved and the
Ad: (1:08) Skip Ad
requirement of multi-level reuses.
VoirFigure
plus 2
shows an Data
example 3-layer architecture in
Summit
Watch Fu…
support of a cognitive AI assistant, a new
generation of AI assistants with multiple
advanced human skills including soft skills.
Skip Ad
 Figure 2. An example architecture of a cognitive AI
assistant with reusable AI at multiple levels.

Reusing general-purpose AI models

As shown in Figure 2, the bottom layer is a set of general-purpose machine learning
models that any AI system relies on. For example, data-driven neural (deep) learning
models, such as BERT and GPT-3, typically are pre-trained on large amounts of public
data like Wikipedia. They can be reused across AI applications to process natural
language expressions. General-purpose AI models however are inadequate to power a
cognitive AI assistant. For example, general-purpose models trained on Wikipedia
typically cannot handle nuanced conversational communications, such as managing a
conversation or inferring a user’s needs from a conversation.

Reusing specialty AI engines

To power an AI assistant with human soft skills, specialty AI engines (the middle layer)
are needed. For example, the active listening engine shown in Figure 2 enables an AI
assistant to understand the focus of attention in a conversation and gives it memory so it
can correctly interpret a user’s input including incomplete and ambiguous expressions
in context as the examples shown in Figure 3.
Ad: (1:08) Skip Ad

Voir plus
Data Summit
Watch Fu…

Skip Ad
 Figure 3. Examples showing how a cognitive AI assistant interprets the same user input in two different
contexts and is able to respond accordingly.

Likewise, specialty AI engines like reading ADVERTISEMENT

between the lines and conversation

communication engines power an AI assistant
with additional human skills. For example,
reading between the lines enables AI assistants
to analyze a user’s input during a conversation
and automatically infer the user’s unique
characteristics (Figure 4). The conversation-
specific communication engine enables AI
assistants better interpret user expressions
during a conversation, such as identifying
whether a user input is a question or reflective statement, which warrants different AI
responses.

With careful design and implementation, all the specialty AI engines can be made
reusable. For example, the active listening conversation engine can be pre-trained with
conversation data to detect diverse conversation contexts (e.g., a user is giving an excuse
Ad: (1:08) Skip Ad
or asking a clarification question) and pre-built with an optimization logic that always
Voir plus
tries to balance user experience and task completion when handling user interruptions
Data Summit
to guide a conversation.
Watch Fu…

Skip Ad
 Figure 4. An example showing how a cognitive AI assistant is able to analyze user conversational text
and automatically infer the user’s soft skills.

Reusing whole AI assistants

In addition to reusing individual AI components/skills, the ultimate goal is to reuse a
whole AI solution. In the context of building AI assistants, it is to reuse a whole AI
assistant based on AI assistant templates with pre-defined workflows and a pertinent
knowledge base (the top layer of Figure 2). For example, an AI Recruiting Assistant
template includes a set of job interview questions and a knowledge base for answering
job-related FAQs. Similarly, an AI Learning Assistant template outlines a workflow, such
as checking the learning status of a student and delivering learning instructions or
reminders. Such a template can be directly reused to create a turnkey AI assistant or can
be
Ad: quickly
(1:08) customized to suit specific needs as shown below.
Skip Ad

Voir plus
Data Summit
Watch Fu…

3. Reusable AI enabling no-code AI

Skip Ad
Since every AI solution typically requires certain customizations, reusable AI enables
no-code AI customizations. Below are several examples.
No-code customization of AI assistant templates
Assume that an HR recruiter wishes to create a custom AI Recruiting Assistant based on
an existing AI template. Just like using PowerPoint or Excel, the recruiter will use a GUI
to customize the interview questions (Figure 5) and job-related FAQs. The no-code
customization greatly simplifies the creation of a powerful, end-to-end AI solution
especially for non-IT professionals.

Figure 5. No-code customization of an AI Recruiting Assistant to ask a specific question (T17). The AI
assistant will handle the discussion on this topic automatically.

Continuing the above example, assuming that ADVERTISEMENT

the recruiter wants the AI assistant to ask job

applicants a question “What do you like the best
in your current job?”. If an applicant’s response
is something similar to “interacting with
customers“, the recruiter wants the AI to ask a
follow-up question “Could you give me an
example that you enjoyed interacting with your
customer?”
Ad: (1:08) Since the pre-built AI template
Skipdoes
Ad

not handle this specific case, theVoir plus

recruiter
Data Summit
would need Watch
to customize
Fu…
the AI
communication. Figure 6 shows how such customization could be done with no coding.

Skip Ad
 Figure 6. No-code customization of an AI assistant based on a user’s response to the question in T17
with a follow-up question (T18). The AI assistant will handle the workflow automatically.

4. No-Code, reusable AI defines

supervisor-assistant relationships
No-code, reusable AI enables everyone, including non-IT professionals, to create their
own custom AI solutions (assistants). An AI assistant only needs to be instructed what to
do (e.g., asking users a set of questions) and then performs the tasks automatically (e.g.,
how to handle user interruptions). This transforms the traditional operator-machine
relationships
Ad: (1:08) into supervisor-machine relationships.
Skip Ad When humans must program/code
Voir
a machine to teach the machines, plus act in the role of operators/developers of
humans
machines.Data Summit
While humans provide machines with high-level, no-code instructions, such
Watch Fu…
as outlining the tasks and teaching new knowledge, humans now become the supervisors
of machines. This new relationship enables humans to do more with machines’ help.
Skip Ad
5. Future directions of no-code, reusable
AI
No-code, reusable AI democratizes the creation and adoption of powerful AI solutions
without requiring scarce AI talents or costly IT resources. Furthermore, no-code,
reusable AI elevates the human-machine relationships, enabling everyone to be
augmented by machine powers. To make no-code, reusable AI the main paradigm for
developing and adopting AI solutions, advances must also be made in several areas.

Explainable AI
The first area is to make reusable AI components/systems explainable. To help non-IT
personnel reuse pre-trained or pre-built AI components and solutions, it is critical to
unbox the “black box” and explain what is inside each component or solution, both pros
and cons. The explainable reusable AI not only helps humans better understand and
leverage existing AI components/systems and also helps avoid potential AI pitfalls. For
example, it would be helpful for an HR recruiter to understand how personal insights are
inferred before s/he uses such AI power to infer applicants’ insights.

Automatic AI Debugging
The second area would be the support of automatic AI debugging. As AI solutions
become more complex and sophisticated, it is difficult to manually examine potential AI
behavior under diverse and complex circumstances. Non-IT users will especially need
help in assessing an AI solution (e.g., an AI
Ad: (1:08) Skipassistant)
Ad and improving it before formally
Voir initial
deploying it. Although there is some plus research on profiling AI assistants, much
Data Summit
more is needed going forward.
Watch Fu…

Responsible AI Skip Ad
The third area would be ensuring the responsible uses of AI, especially with the
democratization of AI. For example, if someone can simply reuse an AI functional unit to
elicit sensitive information from users, how and who can protect the users and their
sensitive information? In addition to measuring typical AI performance such as accuracy
and robustness, new measures and usage guidelines will be needed to ensure the
creation and deployment of trustworthy and safe AI solutions.

Michelle Zhou, Ph.D. is a cofounder and CEO of Juji, Inc.

DataDecisionMakers
Welcome to the VentureBeat community!

DataDecisionMakers is where experts, including the technical people doing data

work, can share data-related insights and innovation.

If you want to read about cutting-edge ideas and up-to-date information, best
practices, and the future of data and data tech, join us at DataDecisionMakers.

You might even consider contributing an article of your own!

Read More From DataDecisionMakers

Author

Michelle Zhou, Ph.D., Juji, Inc FOLLOW

Topics

AI
Ad: (1:08)
FOLLOW AI Ethics FOLLOW AI, ML and Deep Learning
Skip Ad FOLLOW
Voir plus
Applied AI Data
FOLLOW
Summit Convo AI FOLLOW
Watch Fu…
Customer Engagement (using convo AI) FOLLOW DataDecisionMakers FOLLOW

Conversation FOLLOW Skip Ad LOG IN | SIGN UP

Start the conversation

 ALL COMMENTS newest

Start the conversation

Powered by

Find your dream job on VentureBeat Careers

Indeed
London
View 1631 Jobs
(https://jobs.venturebeat.com/company/indeed-2)

Robinhood
Menlo Park
View 32 Jobs
Ad: (1:08) (https://jobs.venturebeat.com/company/robinhood)
Skip Ad

Voir plus
Data Summit
Watch Fu…

Hemmersbach Nordamerika
Nuremberg
View 2090 Jobs Skip Ad
(https://jobs.venturebeat.com/company/hemmersbach-nordamerika-1)
 Evo Payments
Atlanta
View 14 Jobs
(https://jobs.venturebeat.com/company/evo-payments-1)

Sponsored

Why investment companies are bullish about

the metaverse
VB Staff

March 17, 2022 07:20 AM

Ad: (1:08) Skip Ad

Voir plus
Data Summit
Image Credit: Getty Images
Watch Fu…

Presented by Hiro Capital

Skip
When Hiro Capital launched its first Adback in 2018, venture-backed gaming
fund
companies had a strong year, raising about $6.1 billion, according to Crunchbase data –
yet the metaverse was still living in the realm of fiction. But then Tim Sweeney, CEO of
Epic, a long-time fan of the metaverse concept, predicted that it would soon be “a
multitrillion dollar part of the economy”; Roblox’s IPO was seen by some as one of the
early building blocks of a mature metaverse; and of course Mark Zuckerberg put his
money where his mouth was when he went from just name-dropping the metaverse in
the company’s Q3 earnings announcement to a whole name change.

“The size and allocation of investment in metaverse as a theme has pretty much tracked
with the public interest in it,” says Luke Alvarez, founding general partner of Hiro.
“Suddenly there’s a lot more institutional attention, and that’s great. But at the same
time, everyone’s trying to work out what the hell it means, and what is and isn’t
metaverse. Within that, what are the right things to invest in?”

Hiro Capital, a European VC focused on videogames, metaverse technologies, creator

platforms, and gamified fitness has launched HIRO CAPITAL II in part to answer those
questions. The €300m ($340m) fund is focused on backing emerging games and
metaverse innovators at Seed, A and B stages across the U.K., Europe and North America,
with its first investments announced in April.

People have been dreaming about the metaverse for a long time, Alvarez says. From Alan
Turing musing about the possibility of virtual imaginary worlds in the ‘50s to William
Gibson’s 1984 novel Neuromancer. The 1992 novel Snow Crash, by Neal Stephenson, first
introduced the word “metaverse” to the world; in fact, Hiro Capital is named after the
main character in the novel, Hiro Protagonist.

But interest has accelerated now that real-world tech is finally catching up to imagined
possibilities. There’s fiber, 5G, satellite ultra-broadband around the corner, and
networks that aren’t just faster, but smarter. Hardware has adhered to Moore’s Law,
with the number of transistors on a microchip doubling about every two years while the
cost is halved, leading to tremendously pixel-dense interactive images broadcast on
smaller and smaller devices and headsets.
Ad: (1:08) Skip Ad

Voir
Put that together with all the work plusbeen done on multiplayer gameplay, going
that’s
Data Summit
back to the earliest
Watch Fu… multi-user dungeons on mainframes in the ‘70s to DOOM and Quake,

Runescape, and Second Life, and now Fortnite, Minecraft, Decentraland, and Blankos
Block Party, and you have a genuinely robust trend.
Skip Ad
What is the metaverse?
Right now, “metaverse” is an umbrella term that’s not yet well defined. In part, that’s
because there are a number of gaming and tech communities with their own takes on
what the metaverse entails, and what it will take for a fully realized metaverse to spring
to life. The other reason is that we’re still just in year two of what looks to be a 20-year
buildout, and nobody knows yet quite how it’s going to crystallize.

“The metaverse is going to be a place where everyone can contribute to the content,”
Alvarez says. “Right now, there’s a big intersection between creator platforms like
Roblox and Web3.”

Those who talk about the embryonic metaverse often include multiplayer videogames,
like Epic with its substantial investments in Fortnite and Unreal Engine. Mythical Games
offers both blockchain-based games of its own as well as a Web3 platform and full-
service system for developers and publishers of every size to build or integrate
blockchain-based play-to-earn economies into their games. Solana, a decentralized
blockchain, is also offering studios ways to build games and incorporate NFTs with
higher scaling potential and much lower transaction costs than the current L1, ETH-
based solutions.

At Meta and Microsoft, they’re betting on VR and AR, respectively, as their entrance into
the metaverse relay race, with Meta recently acquiring VR fitness games studios Beat
Saber and Supernatural. Hiro itself has investments in companies like Fit XR, another VR
fitness business, and other earlier-stage VR game studios like Polyarc.

Why should investors care about the

Ad: (1:08) Skip Ad

potential of the Voir

metaverse?
plus
Data Summit
Watch Fu…

Ultimately these digital worlds and their virtual assets will have as much value as the
physical world and its economy, Alvarez says. Right now, the fashion industry clears
Skiptime,
about $1.25 trillion a year; in 20 years Ad he’s betting that the digital clothes market
will be worth the same. In fact, he’s invested in a digital fashion business called SKNUPS,
a Web3 games skin platform.
The energy industry will also be powerfully impacted, with as much efficient, green
power needed for the virtual world as the physical world’s logistics require. Virtual real
estate, art, and other investments and assets will be similar in scale to the physical
economy as well.

“2022 feels the same as 2002 did at the beginning of the mobile internet. In 2018, when
we launched the fund, part of the excitement was that we felt we were right at the start
of the next big computing evolution, with the rise of the metaverse,” he says. “We felt
games would be at the center of that and it would be a big opportunity. It’s going to be
much bigger even than mobile internet. It will create trillions in value. Games will be at
the sharp end of the first use cases in that. So, we set out to make a fund to back the next
generation of talented entrepreneurs in this space.”

Part of the fund’s foundation is a commitment to backing strong creators making strong
Ad: (1:08) Skip Ad
IP. Hiro co-founder Sir Ian Livingstone was one of the original creators of Warhammer
Voir plus
in 1975 while
Data at Games Workshop, and co-led the company behind legendary icon Lara
Summit
Watch Fu…
Croft, and has since invested in hugely successful game studios including Playdemic
(Golf Clash), Mediatonic (Fall Guys), and Sumo Digital.

Skip Ad studios and platforms including Twin Suns

Hiro Capital has since invested in innovative
Studios, FRVR, Snowprint, Polyarc, Happy Volcano, Double Loop Games, Flavourworks
and Keen Games, Twin Suns, and more. They’ve tapped companies from the small
Happy Volcano team to Fit XR, to LIV.tv, a leading VR streaming and creator platform.
With Hiro Capital 2, they’re looking to back the new IP’s that will prosper inside the next
generation of massively multiplayer metaverse worlds.

“It’s a very diverse mix of entrepreneurs, and diverse along all dimensions, but also very
talented and heroic,” Alvarez says.

In the next five years he predicts the trend will start to pick up even more steam, with
north of 100 million VR headsets, and tens of millions of second-generation AR headsets
that can overlay digital metaverses onto the physical world and tens of millions of digital
asset wallets. The number of early adopters will surge, and major publishers and new
startups will step up to the new demand. The number of metaverse multiplayer worlds
that include not only game components but digital assets like property, clothing, and
art, will rise, and the blockchain protocols with staying power will rise to the top.

“Suddenly all those dreams in all those sci-fi novels will start to become possible,” he
says. “We’re now able to build this stuff, but we’re only just beginning. We’ll only have a
true set of metaverses when all of the very complex tech problems are meaningfully
solved, and software can run in real time for billions of users at fractions of a cent in cost
per transaction. And that’s a lot of work to be done by very clever techies all around the
world. It’s going to be fun.”

Sponsored articles are content produced by a company that is either paying for the post or has
a business relationship with VentureBeat, and they’re always clearly marked. Content
produced by our editorial team is never influenced by advertisers or sponsors in any way. For
more information, contact sales@venturebeat.com.

Transform 2022 Join forces with

VentureBeat at our
Join AI and data leaders for
Ad: (1:08)
insightful talks and exciting
Skip Ad upcoming AI & data events
Voir plus
networking opportunities in-person
Data19
July Summit
and virtually July 20-28. Sponsor VB Events
Watch Fu…

Register Now
Skip Ad
DataDecisionMakers

VB Lab Newsletters Events Special Issue

Product Comparisons Jobs

About Contact Careers Privacy Policy Terms of Service

Do Not Sell My Personal Information

© 2022 VentureBeat. All rights reserved.

Ad: (1:08) Skip Ad

Voir plus
Data Summit
Watch Fu…

Skip Ad