“If you optimize only for a single objective such as improved profit, there will be fallout and dire ramifications. But if you establish standards that incorporate humanist objectives as well, science can help you achieve them.”

Eric Siegel is a former Columbia University professor and leading consultant, who is always finding new ways to make machine learning and data analytics more engaging and understandable for the masses.

His passion for machine learning and data analytics is manifested in his accomplishments:

• Founder of the long-running Predictive Analytics World and the Deep Learning World conference series, which he started back in 2009
• Author of the bestselling “Predictive Analytics: The Power to Predict Who Will Click, Buy, Lie, or Die”, which has been used in courses at hundreds of universities

Eric has appeared on prominent media outlets such as: Bloomberg TV and Radio, Business News Network (Canada), National Geographic Breakthrough, NPR Marketplace, Radio National (Australia), and TheStreet.

Furthermore, his books has been reviewed and featured in: Businessweek, CBS MoneyWatch, The European Business Review, The Financial Times, Forbes, Forrester, Fortune, Harvard Business Review, The Huffington Post, The New York Times, Newsweek, Quartz, The San Francisco Chronicle, Scientific American, The Wall Street Journal, The Washington Post, and WSJ MarketWatch.

In an era where technology advancements dominate economic growth, impact our personal lives and influence both international and domestic policies, we gather insights from Eric on the path forward for machine learning and artificial intelligence for the near future.

EARLY LIFE

Tell us more about your family background and share with us on what it was like growing up.

I grew up in Burlington, Vermont, a small, progressive city in the cold northeast of the U.S., where Bernie Sanders was my mayor and Ben & Jerry (now famous internationally for their ice cream) were two guys running a single, small shop.

My mother was a teacher and father a doctor. They were extremely caring respectively, so I was very privileged and well-supported. I was encouraged to express myself openly and freely, which led to my participation in many musical and theatrical performances through high school and college. This actually helped my tech career, since I have become a professional speaker – delivering an engaging keynote is very much like delivering a very specific kind of theatrical monologue.

As for my tech interests, I was intrigued by computers from the age of 9. My buddy and I would ride our bikes at age 10 to the university bookstore, where we could access a Texas Instruments personal computer, and teach ourselves the BASIC programming language.

By age 11, in 1980, my family got an Apple ][+, which had no hard-drive (of course) and used the household television as its screen. Having a computer at home to hack on for hours a day gave me the lucky opportunity to learn and experiment in those years.

How did your upbringing shape the person you are today?

With the independence and trust I was given and very few rules – my heart and mind were free to develop real passion for certain kinds of technology and the confidence to share that passion. I came to love machine learning most of all. But I also developed the impulse to express my opinion when I feel technology isn’t being applied properly.

How would you sum up your childhood?

A peaceful, forgiving, and supportive environment and a lot of fun!

JOURNEY

How and when did your interest in machine learning come about? And why did you decide to become a university professor at Columbia?

My original interest in machine learning, which fully blossomed in 1991, was really an infatuation with the technology itself. After all, the ability to learn from experience (data) makes it the most fascinating type of engineering to me.

Being a professor gave me the opportunity to explore the area more deeply and also develop methods to most effectively teach the subject matter to newcomers.

But ultimately, technology has got to be useful, not only interesting. In my career as a consultant, beginning in 2003, my focus had turned to how to most effectively deploy machine learning.

Why did you write the book ‘Predictive Analytics’ and created the ‘Predictive Analytics World and Deep Learning World conference series’?

I wrote Predictive Analytics to demonstrate why the field – aka machine learning — is intuitive, powerful, and awe-inspiring. It’s a book about the most influential and valuable achievements of computerized prediction and the two things that make it possible: the people behind it and the fascinating science that powers it.

While there are a number of books that approach the how-to side of ML, this book serves a different purpose (which turned out to be a rewarding challenge for me): sharing with a wider audience a complete picture of the field, from the way in which it empowers organizations, down to the inner workings of predictive modeling.

The Predictive Analytics World and Deep Learning World conference series continue my efforts to focus on the commercial application of machine learning. The conferences cover best practices and lessons learned in its real-world deployment.

ACHIEVEMENTS

Which achievements/milestones are you most proud of and why?

The Predictive Analytics World conference series has thrived since we launched it in 2009. As the leading vendor-neutral, cross-vendor commercial (non-academic) event, it plays an important, central role in the industry. It’s always so exciting to bring together the leading innovators for these meetings.

My book’s wide adoption was also very rewarding to me, after investing a great deal of effort to describe the technology so it could be understood by all. Hundreds of universities have adopted it and it lead to 120 keynote invitations across industry sectors, including ad tech, marketing, market research, e-commerce, environmentalism, manufacturing, financial services, insurance, news media, healthcare, pharmaceuticals, government, human resources, restaurants, travel, real estate, construction, and law.

What do you think are the key ingredients to your success?

First principles. When I started out as an independent predictive analytics (aka machine learning) consultant in 2003, today’s high demand wasn’t there yet. It hadn’t become a trend. But I knew that optimizing operations by way of per-individual or per-unit predictions, which is what you get from machine learning, was clearly valuable and would have an important place in the world.

I also have always enjoyed working to make technology understandable to newcomers and non-technical folks. And that’s a valuable and yet often underdeveloped skill! After all, business leaders and decision makers need to understand the fundamentals if a technology is going to be deeply integrated into the daily operations of a business.

PERSONAL (LIFE)

What is your life motto (Or core values) if any?

Geek out! Get really into it. As much as you can for as many minutes of every day, focus on your love for the details of what you’re doing rather than the outcome or recognition that you may also be hoping for.

To you, what are the most important things in life? Why so?

I’m all for the cliches: Family, friends, health, and happiness. But after those I would put experiencing a personal connection to work, if you can find it. There’s a lot of gratification there, when work is meaningful to you.

What’s worth mentioning on your life’s bucket list that you have not done?

I’d like to shift my work life to invest more time into ethical technology. Also, zero-gravity in a parabolic airplane trip. As for space travel, thank you but no thank you!

What are some things that many people don’t know about you?

I took 10 years of acting classes. I love actors, their work, and their process. I can’t stop watching interviews with them. The craft of acting has solved aging: The older an actor gets, the deeper their work. Most other performing arts don’t work that way.

What kind of legacy do you hope to leave behind?

I hope that my work shows people the joy that can be found in doing good work.

What are some life lessons you will take to your grave?

People are generous and thoughtful – except for when they aren’t. When they aren’t, they are subconsciously acting out the same strength-testing that kids put one another through on the playground. When people aren’t seeing your valid point, or aren’t responding to it, keep this in mind so that you can persevere.

VIEWPOINTS

You sometimes publish op-eds on analytics and social justice. How do you see that analytics and machine learning can advance the moral objectives of society?

If you optimize only for a single objective such as improved profit, there will be fallout and dire ramifications. But if you establish standards that incorporate humanist objectives as well, science can help you achieve them.

AI/ML is playing a more significant role in the advancement of new technologies around the world, with endless new applications across many industries within reach. Where do you see the development of new technologies based on AI/ML in the next 3 to 5 years?

The main development will be existing technologies’ growing deployment, rather than the development of new technologies. These things are growing rapidly: computer power, data aggregation, and familiarity with machine learning’s potential.

As a result, machine learning’s penetration across company functions will continue to increase. And so will its consumer-facing deployment, including for certain self-driving capabilities and our digital experience. Machine learning fortifies healthcare, prevents fraud, cuts costs, and streamlines manufacturing. This vast applicability makes ML “the new electricity,” as Andrew Ng has put it.

As a professor who used to teach in a University, you got to interact with countless students on a regular basis. In your opinion, how important is it to get more of the younger generation to learn AI/ML?

This is critical. It should be taught in high school. Machine learning is increasingly central to how society is run, and yet curriculums are very slow to adapt to it.

The post Future Of Artificial Intelligence – Eric Siegel appeared first on My Story Lounge.

“I always say – let all your doubts happen before you commit. Once you’ve committed to pursuing something, don’t look back.”

Software engineer and dancer – these two roles don’t usually come together. But in the case of entrepreneur Miral Kotb, the combination made perfect sense. A Houston, Texas native, Miral simultaneously pursued both passions when she studied dancing in Barnard College and computer science in Columbia University respectively.

Her hard work in academics paid off when she launched iLuminate back in 2009. The company creates state-of-the-art technology coupled with dancers performing in the dark, creating a mesmerising light show on stage. Her technology took national spotlight on the popular American talent show called “America’s Got Talent” back in 2011 when performers used her products to land a top spot in the finals of the show that season.

Ever since then, her company has catapulted onto the international scene, entertaining audiences around the globe and pushing storytelling to the next level with stunning visual performances. Miral has collaborated with world-renowned artists such as Grammy-winning superstars Chris Brown, Christina Aguilera and The Black Eyed Peas. The technology has also been featured on Dancing with the Stars, The American Music Awards, MTV’s Video Music Awards, and others.

We spoke to this trail-blazing female entrepreneur in the world of entertainment, to find out more about how she has come a long way to turn her passions for dance and coding respectively, into a successful career.

EARLY LIFE

Tell us more about your family background and share with us on what it was like growing up.

Dancing has always been a part of my culture. Before my parents emigrated from Cairo to Houston, my father was a performer in Egypt’s national dance troupe.

While growing up, I was always dancing. Eventually I landed at Columbia University to study coding and at the same time, I pursued dance training separately. I landed at Bloomberg and became a software engineer, but my free time was spent expressing myself through dance and learning all areas of the craft.

How did your upbringing shape the person you are today?

My mother was an economist, which I feel was where I got my love for math and science. When I was nine, my parents brought home our first desktop computer and I was obsessed with it!

I had a natural knack that was evident from the start. They enrolled me in a computer coding class and I quickly began writing code for fun, making my own games in the process. When people played the games I created, it was fulfilling. It became a way for me to bond more with American culture.

How would you sum up your childhood?

I had an incredible childhood and was always very curious in life, which I think is what led me down this path. My journey was always about doing what I love.

JOURNEY

Why did you decide to take the path of entrepreneurship and start your own company?

It was a long path! When I was at Bloomberg, I had finally reached a point where I was ready to leave my job and put all my time into dance as a career. But I had the biggest life sideline when they found a tumor in my right hip. The diagnosis was so bad that there was a potential for my leg to be amputated and I’d never be able to dance again.

I was very lucky in that they didn’t have to remove my hip, so I could continue pursuing dance. I ended up staying with Bloomberg for six years before becoming a freelancer focusing on website coding which I did while traveling around Europe.

After returning to America, I decided to attend Apple’s App Developer Conference where I learned about wireless chips getting so small that they could be put in everyday devices and a eureka moment instantly clicked in my mind – dance!

You could put a chip on a dancer and be able to communicate with them wirelessly in real-time while performing. This would make shows more organic and different every night. I then cultivated that idea into having the chips control lights attached to the dancers; and with that, iLuminate was born.

How did your interest in computer coding and dance come about in your early years?

I had a passion for both at a young age, but the concept for iLuminate emerged while I was developing iPhone applications. When I realized I could take my love of art and my passion for technology and merge them together to make this really cool, immersive experience that was unlike anything I had ever seen – it just all started to make sense!

I used my friends as guinea pigs, and I had a prototype for the ‘lights suit’ built in a matter of weeks. Since then, I have not stopped working on the technology since. We eventually caught the eye of many celebrities that wanted to use this technology and of course, went on to appear on America’s Got Talent where we came in third place.

Along the way, what were some hard decisions you faced and challenges you had to overcome?

Years after my first fight with cancer, I was diagnosed for a second time, this time with leukemia that was caused from the radiation from the first cancer.

This was in 2017 and I was one of the youngest people known to get this particular type of leukemia. During the fight I decided to make a video of my story to say thank you to everyone who had helped me and to remind myself that life is worth living, and this setback is only temporary. It helped me to realize that love and people will get you through anything.

I was in quarantine for nine months and while it was torture, it also gave me time to be with my family, to think and create. Shortly after getting out of the hospital, I started to put my iLuminate team to work for the show in Las Vegas. We were set to launch March 26, 2020…and we all know what happened to the world that month – Covid-19 caused a global pandemic.

Another setback in life, but another opportunity to continue to create and make things better while we had the time…a lot of time!

ACHIEVEMENTS

Which achievements/milestones are you most proud of and why?

I am really proud that I have had so many hurdles in life, but I have never lost sight of my goals and my passion to leave a mark on this world. A major milestone happened this October when we officially launched the iLuminate show on the famed Las Vegas Strip.

What do you think are the key ingredients to your success?

I always say – let all your doubts happen before you commit. Once you’ve committed to pursuing something, don’t look back. I say this with experience – not just in relation to battling cancer myself or going through a worldwide pandemic, but at every step of the way, have conviction and commit to yourself.

Even the 2021 launch of iLuminate had its ups and downs but I learned to stay true to myself and my vision and not be afraid to step back and reevaluate.

Share with us some anecdotes or experiences that you think played a significant role in your success.

My team has definitely played a significant role in where I am today. My “team” includes not just my work team, but my family and friends (although all of those categories are interchangeable with each other!).

These people have helped me push myself to become a better person, a better boss, a more creative show producer and coder…If you surround yourself with a positive, hard-working group of people, it opens up your mind to endless possibilities!

PERSONAL (LIFE)

What is your life motto (Or core values) if any?

‘Everything happens for a reason’

I really try to look forward and not back – ‘Everything happens for a reason’ is a motto I try to keep at the back of my head. Otherwise, you can go crazy with the “why did I…” or “what ifs.”

‘It’s all in the pre-production’

On the work side – “It’s all in the pre-production!” Planning is the best way to make sure things are executed well in theater. It is part of the creative process.

‘Stay true to yourself’

“Stay true to yourself!” I have spent the last few months trying to do what others told me I should for my company/brand and it backfired. I lost my way and I am even more convinced that staying true to yourself is the way to be.

To you, what are the most important things in life?

The people you surround yourself with are the key to success in life, regardless of what “success” looks like to you.

What’s worth mentioning on your life’s bucket list that you have not done?

I want to start a family. This is dear to my heart. I also want to see more women and artists writing code.

Writing code can be a really creative endeavor and the more people learn about it, the more people will realize that it is not impossible to do or only reserved for certain ‘types of people’.

I would also like to have more shows internationally and a Broadway show soon too!

Why do you do what you do? (What drives you everyday)

I get to express myself and to be creative each and every day which keeps my mind sharp and allows me to continue to grow. I’m like that ABC mantra – Always Be Creating!

Who are the role models and influences in your life?

Richard Branson is one of my many role models because he’s truly an artist at heart and he uses creativity in business too.

What are some things that many people don’t know about you?

I am learning to play the piano. I LOVE IT! It is one of my favorite parts of the day. One day I hope to play in a jazz band.

I also do gymnastics, love to cook (my family owns a restaurant and my mom is the chef), and I am still dancing (for fun!).

What are some life lessons you will take to your grave?

I go back to “Stay True to Yourself” and also that friends and family always come first.

Try to find what you love to do and stick to it if you can, because life is too short to go about it any other way.

VIEWPOINTS

With your background in coding and software engineering, you decided to partner with code.org to create an educational video for elementary school students around the world. Why do you think it is important for children to learn coding at an early age?

Coding is so fun and creative! When you finish a project, you have an incredible piece of art to share with your friends and family. Having something to share that YOU created helps boost confidence and brings out a different way of developing critical thinking skills.

The world is changing and technology is becoming more and more important. Pretty soon we will run out of software developers to fill in the roles. I, myself, still struggle to find strong software developers.

Ever since your technology was showcased on America’s Got Talent, you have become a mentor to young women in coding and an advocate of bringing more women into computer science. Is there a lack of female representation in computer science and how do you hope that can change?

Absolutely! My hope in changing it is to show a successful woman in the field who is also embracing her feminine and creative side. The stigma behind what a computer scientist looks like is a big reason why girls are dissuaded from pursuing coding. But if we can get more women who code in “cool” and “popular” ways, it may help.

You are a survivor of cancer and have supported cancer foundations in various ways. How did it shape your journey and perspectives of life and success? What advice do you give to other cancer survivors who want to pursue their passions just like you did?

There IS life after cancer. I will not lie, I still deal with the side effects of having had cancer twice, but that just makes every moment and accomplishment that much more special because I am so thankful each day to be here and I fight that much harder for what I love and believe in.

The post Dance And Light Up The World – Miral Kotb appeared first on My Story Lounge.