The AI field is growing much faster than other economic sectors, according to statistics. Next-generation technologies are becoming not only commonplace but are also reaching new levels of development. For instance, neural networks have already “taken over” marketing and sales and are being actively implemented to optimize processes. The business conference “Cases & Faces,” held in June in Florida, gathered distinguished AI specialists from around the world in Fort Lauderdale. Technologies and innovations were the foundation of this conference.
Dmitry Kotov, the organizer of the “Cases & Faces” conference and CEO of Crazy Unicorns, spoke about the results and significance of the event, and the prospects for using neural networks for various purposes. Dmitry is an outstanding IT entrepreneur, business consultant, winner of the national “Creative Technologies” award, and member of prestigious international associations IEEE and AAIA.
Dmitry, I want to ask you straight away about the practical benefits. Are you satisfied with how the “Cases & Faces” conference went? And how did you manage to gather several dozen experts in such a specialized field as AI at one venue?
Firstly, I wouldn’t call this field narrow. It’s very difficult to imagine modern business without technology today. Process automation is something every entrepreneur should aspire to, regardless of their business specificity—be it marketing, trade, education, medicine, or even culture—every field needs order and high-speed decision-making to achieve success. This is simply our life, the cost of time. So, we are all, to some extent, already familiar with AI; it’s just a question of how deeply involved we are. At “Cases & Faces,” there really were the best, those who understand the subject at an expert level. Gathering everyone was both difficult and easy. Difficult technically, as we deal with different regions and time zones. Easy because I have been working in this field for many years, and AI for me is more than just a tool; it’s a foundation for technical breakthroughs—both present and future.
I’d like to talk about your experience. You’ve been in IT for over 20 years, leading the development of many websites and applications, and got involved with blockchains in the era of Web3. How did you start working with AI and manage to “tame” it?
As you rightly pointed out, I have always been interested in the latest developments, testing any new product or tool immediately to see if it’s worthwhile. I can say that my instincts have never let me down. With large linguistic models, I almost immediately realized that this is a real treasure trove, a foundation for truly breakthrough developments. Replacing routine human work with robots is insanely interesting, and AI can literally change the face and method of modern business operations—I’m methodically working towards this.
After the emergence of neural networks, the “field” for their use was almost immediately divided among large corporations. And the range of their functions is quite limited—voice recognition, text generation, what else, pictures? Where did you find the moral strength to compete with industry giants?
Regarding text and pictures—I disagree. Maybe it was like that at the very beginning, yes. But over the past two years, neural networks have noticeably “smartened up,” starting with the era of GPT-3, it became clear that AI is literally beginning to acquire its own intelligence and even gradually understands humor. As for where I got the strength, I don’t even know what to answer. Perhaps the key is that I’m genuinely fascinated by this. If you really want to eat, and there’s a huge queue at the food counter, would you decide that since it’s like this, you will never eat again and would rather die of hunger than get involved in the hustle? Maybe the example isn’t the best. But I really didn’t look at the question that way—to give up an insanely interesting, captivating idea just because someone else “grabbed” it. Especially since I still haven’t seen anything on the market like what we created with my team.
Your concept of Neuron is indeed unlike anything else: to combine LLM with search engines and also make it a social business network in one product, where communication between people becomes primary, and AI finds answers and opportunities designed to solve entrepreneurs’ problems—but how does this work in practice?
From my own business experience, I know that companies often face tasks that require ad hoc specialists in a particular area. And these experts aren’t always available in their city or country, requiring significant time and effort to find. But what if such experts were united and accessible through a single “entry point”? This became the basis of my idea. Imagine: you gain access to a special social network for niche specialists. Artificial intelligence moderates your communication, and selects experts and materials in such a way that you get the maximum benefit. Often, a person can’t yet articulate what they need; they just have some problem or wish. Neural networks allow this to be converted into specific solutions.
It sounds quite futuristic. But I know you went even further and came up with the concept of E-workers, which represents a team of “digital assistants” based on AI that either replaces people or eases their work. Have you already tested it on real businesses?
Yes. Optimizing human resources is one of the pressing problems of business, especially not large ones. Not every company has the opportunity to expand staff, and the existing personnel cannot cope with the workload. For such cases, the concept of digital workers was created. Regarding those who have already tried it—I can’t disclose specific data and names without permission, but suppose there was a realtor from Miami who, using the content-builder feature, got the opportunity to create and distribute targeted content on social networks and their website—without hiring special people for this. The interaction between human and artificial intelligence exceeded all expectations: the growth in visits and inquiries was explosive, all without salary expenses.
Did you discuss this in your own report at the “Cases & Faces” conference? How did the presentation go?
Oh, it was pure adrenaline. I enjoyed the contact with the audience—probably because there were almost no “random” people at the conference; everyone present was motivated to speak and listen specifically on this topic. Plus, I always try to be as simple as possible, despite talking about quite complex things, sometimes with various technical details. But it all worked out—after the conference, two nice girls came up to me and said, “You’re the first one we completely understood about AI”—that’s the best praise for me.
You often speak at various events, from EthMiami, Techweek, and so on. As an experienced speaker, tell us, which topic is more in demand—blockchain and decentralized applications, or still neural networks and their prospects?
It depends on the event itself, the declared theme, the experts present. But by feel, that AI is of course currently of interest to everyone. Its role is growing with each year and even month. Those who did not manage to implement some elements yesterday are already late today and catching up—and I’m primarily talking about business, where the competition is very fierce. So if someone still hoped to sit it out, hoping the hype around AI would pass, and everyone would work “the old way” again—I’m afraid they are fatally mistaken.
It’s hard to argue with you, especially since you are a member of the prestigious IEEE (Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers – ed.) and a senior participant in the Academic Association in the field of artificial intelligence. What do your peers in the industry say, when should we expect the uprising of the machines?
I understand your irony. But for now, all fears related to AI gaining autonomy and independent thinking are unfounded. Technologies are completely subordinate to humans—and it’s unlikely to ever be otherwise. Let’s leave all these horror stories about the uprising of machines and the war of artificial intelligence against natural intelligence to Hollywood. In professional circles, completely different issues are discussed: questions of ethics, possibilities of use, spheres, and mechanisms where AI is not yet applied, but experts see potential, and so on. I would formulate my answer this way: there is no need to fear artificial intelligence, but perhaps, one should be wary of unscrupulous people, and therefore – carefully ensure that such a powerful tool is in the right hands. This is what we, I mean professional communities, are also engaged in.
