AI, big data, blockchain and marketing present a very powerful mix. Joey Bertschler, the Austrian-born Security Tokens Alliance, bitgrit and Cosmology Executive, serves it from Japan to customers and partners worldwide. He talks to our Editor in Chief about the sinergy in these major driving forces of our time:
(Q) When I run webinars of use of AI in, for example, HR, people often times raise their concerns on the surveillance aspect in the application of artificial intelligence. Many fear to loose jobs. Some believe, that “robots will take over”. What can you answer to these people?
Yes, it is absolutely true that AI will take over jobs. A lot of labor jobs will become redundant making room for more specialized, creative or simply new jobs. This has happened before every time new machines and tools were invented and will continue to happen throughout scientific progress. We already no longer live in a world where it can be considered the norm to acquire one specific skill-set and then carry out a job based solely on that for 65 years to then retire.
(Q) What is bitgrit’s engagement with AI and blockchain? What is your business model?
bitgrit is a matchmaker to supply the demand for AI solutions with data science talent. bitgrit does this via the means of regular events, it’s partners like the WDSF (World Data Science Forum) and it’s AI marketplace (currently in development).
(Q) A real life project to illustrate how you operate?
A software provider struggled specifically in the APAC region and got in touch with bitgrit.
After providing data, bitgrit invited it’s top data scientists to form a team and then crafted an in-depth report.
These analytics and models led to changes in the product itself as well as their marketing approach.
(Q) You combine exec positions in bitgrit, an AI firm, and Cosmology, engaged in internet ads. Is there a sinergy there?
A lot of data science problems turn out to be about partially and at times completely about marketing. Being involved in a multitude of multinational corporate initiatives, spanning emerging technology industries including statistical optimization techniques and dis-intermediation technologies as well as advertisement and marketing allows me to tackle both the business side as well as the technical side on a global scale.
If a problem statement is claimed to be solvable with an AI solution but is really more about marketing funnels and does not need one to begin with to name an example.
My work at the Security Token Alliance – the world’s leading Security Token think tank, bitgrit – home to one of the world’s largest data science communities, Cosmology Inc and the World Data Science Forum has lended itself to diverse business perspectives.
As an Austrian-born multilingual currently working in Japan, and having visited many countries, I lend a truly global cosmopolitan mindset.
(Q) bitgrit and Cosmology operate in and from Japan. Why?
The founders of both enterprises have their roots in Japan and the asian region which is why they decided to set their base up here as well. Both companies have been ever expanding with partnerships across the globe.
(Q) This year saw blockchain technology enter the corp world, often in combination with AI and big data. How these three concepts relate to each other in practice?
Blockchain is a decentralized and immutable ledger/database used to store encrypted data while AI refers to machines capable of carrying out tasks that require intelligence. Both technologies are mutually inclusive and make for a great combination.
If you were to operate a blockchain on a single computer you’d need very large amounts of processing power. The right AI solution would allow one to tackle tasks in a more intelligent and efficient way and make up for this. Big data is essentially just an extremely large data set used to detect patterns. This leads to a lot of headlines reading Blockchain-AI-BigData-ML.
To give a another examples on the synergy between those concepts: Decisions taken by AI systems can be difficult for humans to comprehend, but blockchain can shed new light on this by helping us track the thinking process, and understand decisions.
In the end is really case-to-case. If you use AI as part of your Blockchain solution then of course they relate. More often than not however, these are just buzzwords being used as a means of getting attention. (AI, ML, BigData, Blockchain, Leverage, Accelerate, Ecosystem..)
Blockchain has entered the corporate world quite a while back with big institutions developing their own chains and platforms most of which are still in their nascence but will arguably truly disrupt the industry.
One example could be an crypto exchange by Nasdaq.
(Q) How do you see the future of in applications of AI, blockchain and big data?
In the simplest and shortest wording: faster, better, stronger.
A lot of blockchain projects currently provide computing power for AI needs. In addition to that, BC tech promises to add structure and accountability. AI algorithms may thus help in many sensitive areas based on the integrity BC can provide as we have seen on a global scale.
As seen on a global scale, across nations, many initiatives of blockchain currently provide computing power for the needs of AI. In addition to providing computing power, blockchain technologies also hold the promise of adding structure and accountability to AI algorithms and may help in much-needed areas like security, quality, and integrity of the intelligence AI produces. Now since big data fuels, artificial intelligence and blockchain generates big data, individually and collectively the future of AI is tied to the future of blockchain.
(Q) You are also the COO of the world’s largest trade association in tokenization, the Security Token Alliance. What are your functions there? What programmes do you plan to run to educate the public security tokens?
I act in synergy with the founder in terms of vision, operational controls and procedures and “people systems” to effectively grow the organization and bring upon a win-win communication for all of its members.
We plan to gather diverse organizations/ stakeholder in the security token industry to create an environment that brings tokenized securities to mass adoption faster and with higher quality than could be done by entities acting by themselves. Security Tokens are a potentially $10 trillion industry, but suffer from uncertainty and fragmentation due to the lack of clarity among stakeholders, problems with issuing platforms and exchanges, not truly compliant projects or even utility tokens that are in reality securities.
(Q) How else can you at the STA promote the core businesses of your members?
Members of STA share a mutual desire to cooperate in the formation of a multi-project alliance, co-marketing, exchange of knowledge, and support in each other’s efforts in advancing the security token landscape.
Promotion itself takes many forms. For example lead generations as part of the biggest industry organization in the space, marketing promotions (I personally have a 1 million+ reach on LinkedIn alone), and media promotions (2 of our partners were just mentioned in Forbes).
