Monday, Oct 28, 2024
Back to the Future: AI Pioneers
From the 1990s to the 2020s, and hopefully far into the future - the journey of Mono and AI.
At the beginning of this blog post, we’re first going to travel back to the past. To the wonderful nineties – that mystical era that feels like it was just yesterday, even if today’s kids think it’s ancient history.
You might be wondering, and rightfully so, why we’re heading back in time, aside from the pure nostalgia. We’re revisiting one of today’s hottest topics - a subject we’ve covered extensively over the past few years, but, remarkably, were covering even way back then. Yes, we were writing about the early rumblings of this tech revolution nearly a quarter of a century ago, laying the groundwork for conversations still relevant today.
Get ready, as things are about to get retro and futuristic.
AI Winter
The late 80s and early 90s, and even the early 2000s, weren’t exactly a golden age for artificial intelligence. Known as the Second AI Winter, this period saw interest in AI plummet significantly. The general public had a pretty clear idea of what AI was - or, rather, what they thought it should be: a robot so lifelike it could almost pass for a human, much like the ones depicted in Spielberg’s movie A.I. Artificial Intelligence.
However, the hype and the grand promises from earlier years hadn’t panned out, and as a result of unsuccessful attempts at creating a human-like intelligence, the funding dried up, and many projects came to a halt, with many companies focused on the development of artificial intelligence being shut down. People started thinking of AI as more of a sci-fi fantasy than a real, workable technology and up came a cold season during which AI was like a persona non grata, especially in academic circles.
“At [AI’s] low point, some computer scientists and software engineers avoided the term artificial intelligence for fear of being viewed as wild-eyed dreamers.” (NYT)
But dreamers or not, we believed.
Late 1990s
What did shine in the nineties was About.com, a pioneering site in the early days of the Internet, a powerhouse of knowledge. Launched in 1996, About.com became one of the largest and most popular online destinations, offering a vast range of content across nearly 700 topics. Its success was driven by expert-written guides who provided in-depth information on everything - from health and physics, to The X-Files and poetry. In the late nineties, the site was a go-to resource for millions, playing a significant role in shaping the early Internet landscape. Although it is still present today, it is working under a different name, Dotdash, and with a very different approach.
In 1998, our very own Denis Sušac joined About.com as the expert guide on none other than artificial intelligence.
As the general public barely had a glimpse of the potential of AI, Mono’s CEO was making an early start in the field.
What Denis did back then was getting AI closer to different AI enthusiasts, using simple language to educate the readers on important AI subjects, share and comment on the latest AI-related news, updates and advancements, as well as point to the most useful professional articles on the subject. On the professional and technical end, Denis covered subjects like machine translation, intelligent agents, AI applications in space exploration, robot vision, neural networks, Kohonen networks (aka Self-organizing maps), behavior-based robotics, genetic algorithms and even smart weapons, delving into complex AI advancements.
However, it was not just about AI enthusiasts, but also about bringing the subject closer to the general public, provoking their interest and emphasizing the fact that AI already is everywhere around us, even though it may not always be too conspicuous.
Smart homes, smart clothes, domestic robots, even Furby (remember Furby?) - giving readers a glimpse into how AI was transforming everyday life and predicting the possibilities of our everyday AI future - much more cautiously than the prediction of the 2015 Marty McFly visits.
Topics that are currently hot again, chatbots - aka chatterbots and agents were regulary covered - performance and capabilities were nowhere close to modern solutions, but important steps were made to lay the groundwork of what we use today.
Denis balanced content that appealed to both casual readers and more tech-savvy audiences. When we talk about cautious predictions, a fun article to read from today’s point of view would be the one about AI’s creativity and its limits. So, in hindsight, with today’s advancements and products like ChatGPT at our fingertips, can computers write stories?
Early 2000s
While in four long years Denis managed to build an impressive site filled with expert knowledge, advice, predictions, news, and fun facts, a site that gathered a couple thousand AI enthusiasts, the same fate caught up to AI once again and the site permanently closed, along with a number of other expert-guided topics, in 2001.
This led to the creation of a new platform: aboutAI.net. Not only authored but also developed and managed by Denis and his colleagues, and built upon the foundations laid on About.com, this site’s goal was to continue expanding the existing knowledge base and community.
Researching and writing was not the only thing in our focus, as we started working on our very own AI projects, from 2003 under a brand new company - Mono.
2010s and 2020s
From the very beginning of our product endeavors, we focused on building products that were powered by AI. From veterinary services to the music industry, before all the major hype surrounding it for the past couple of years, AI technology was a crucial cog in some of our largest and longest-lasting projects.
We have always been aware of the power AI has to truly transform businesses, even entire industries, so we used different AI technologies to do so in real life.
One notable success was a speech-to-text solution for veterinarians, designed to streamline the creation of SOAP (Subjective, Objective, Assessment, and Plan) medical records. By transcribing dictated notes into structured documentation, this tool reduces administrative workload while ensuring accurate, timely record-keeping - a game-changer for veterinary practices.
In medical imaging, Mono leveraged computer vision technologies to enhance MRI diagnostics. By developing AI-powered tools, radiologists gained the ability to identify abnormalities more precisely, leading to earlier detection and treatment. This solution significantly improves diagnostic accuracy and patient outcomes.
To elevate customer experience across industries, Mono developed advanced AI-powered chatbots. These chatbots utilize hybrid Retrieval-Augmented Generation (RAG) models, semantic routing, and fine-tuned AI techniques. They are designed to handle complex queries, provide personalized responses, and assist with day-to-day tasks, ensuring seamless interactions for users in industries like real estate and customer support.
Our developers also joined in efforts to revolutionize the HR industry. By creating a data-driven talent-matching solution, we enabled companies to analyze vast datasets for connecting candidates with the right employers - an invaluable tool for optimizing recruitment processes.
We have developed an AI-powered system to streamline insurance claims processing, leveraging machine learning to automate data extraction and validation, ensuring faster, more accurate resolutions while optimizing operational efficiency.
The culmination of our AI expertise is Dokko, Mono’s own AI conversational platform.
Designed as a personalized knowledge-sharing hub, Dokko uses advanced natural language understanding to deliver real-time, intelligent support. Whether assisting with onboarding, centralizing company knowledge, or streamlining team collaboration, Dokko exemplifies how AI can enhance workflows and empower businesses to operate at their best.
Different problems - different and custom solutions, all cooked up at our factory, using recipes we have been refining for more than a quarter of a century.
Back to the Future
Our story began in the 1990s - a time when AI was more about dreams than reality. Back then, while the world marveled at hoverboards and self-tying sneakers, we were busy exploring the potential of artificial intelligence. From early efforts in educating others about AI to creating our own solutions, we’ve been steadily building expertise for over a quarter of a century.
Fast forward to today, and the journey has brought us full circle. The futuristic concepts we once speculated about are now becoming a reality. What comes next? The future is, of course, unpredictable, but with our experience, we have been able to recognize what will matter - the future driving forces of the industry.
And speaking of the future, why not let Dokko, our AI platform, guide you through it? Have a question about how AI was used to build it or how it can work for your business? Ask Dokko yourself - it’s our way of putting tomorrow’s technology in your hands today.