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Interview with Shankar Vaidyanathan, CEO, Noonum - Speaker at Global Artificial Intelligence Conference April 2018 Posted on : Apr 20 - 2018

We feature speakers at Global Artificial Intelligence Conference - April 27-29 2018 – Seattle to catch up and find out what he or she is working on now and what's coming next. This week we're talking to Shankar Vaidyanathan, CEO, Noonum Topic - "Is The Market Predictable?"

Interview with Shankar Vaidyanathan

1. Tell us about yourself and your background.

I worked for Microsoft in the cloud and data space for several years as an Engineering Leader. My recent gigs at Microsoft were leading the Internet of Things effort and Bing Advertising. My graduate thesis was on Machine Learning, which finally made sense to me when I was working on the Internet of Things. Ultimately, the allure of AI and Machine Learning got me into launching my own startup, Noonum.

2.  What have you been working on recently?

I am the founder and CEO of the fintech company, Noonum, where we leverage Machine Learning and Natural Language Processing for quantamental analysis of companies. Our target customers are institutional investors, corporate strategists, and risk managers.

3. Tell me about the right tool you used recently to solve customer problem?

Today we live in the world of information overload. Particularly, the market is deluded with information that services leveraging Artificial Intelligence are so critical to understand the important ones from fluff. We have used Noonum to effectively understand the signals that contribute to the alpha of companies and understand the associated risks.

4. There is a negative perception around AI and even some leading technology folks have come out against it or saying that it’s actually potentially harmful to society. Where are you coming down on those discussions? How do you explain this in a way that maybe has a more positive beneficial impact for society?

Science has always been a double-edged sword - from the invention of dynamite to today's technologies. As in the past, I strongly believe that the positive impact of science and technology will outweigh the negative ones.

5. When you’re hiring, what types of people are you hiring? The job market for traditional programmers, engineers is very difficult to get into AI space. Are you hiring from that talent pool or is that a different talent pool? In terms of talent, how do you go about ensuring you get the best AI people at your company?

It is a huge challenge as there is a scarcity of supply of "real" machine learning practitioners. So far, we have been lucky with our hiring, as it has not been difficult for candidates to buy into our mission once they understand the hard, exciting, and practical problems that we solve using machine learning.

6. You’ve already hired Y number of people approximately. What would be your pitch to folks out there to join your Organization? Why does your organization matter in the world?

Noonum helps understand and analyze companies in a data-driven approach without human emotions and bias. We are into cutting-edge machine learning and natural language processing to accomplish our mission, and we collaborate with some of the best minds in this world. Although we currently focus on the investment space, there are several different use cases for Noonum including risk management, corporate strategy and consulting, that we have barely scratched the surface. We are excited to be building this transformational technology. So will you, if you reach out to us.

7. What are some of the best takeaways that the attendees can have from your talk?

It's not a "get rich quick" talk. No, it's not a talk on how to invest either. It's a talk on how to analyze companies just by click of the buttons. It's a talk on practical ways to verify your intuition on the general market or a specific company. It is a talk rooted on leveraging machine learning and AI to assist humans make the best decisions.

8. Which company do you think is winning the global AI race?

I don't there is going to be one single winner. Large enterprises are effectively building technology platforms that democratizes machine learning. Companies, both small and big, are leveraging these platforms to solve their customer problems.

9. Will progress in AI and robotics take away the majority of jobs currently done by humans? Which jobs are most at risk?

Industrial revolution disrupted the factory workers. This revolution will definitely disrupt the information workers. But, don't be afraid. The society and the economy will evolve to accommodate this disruption.