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Dec. 30, 2024

1009: AI COMPANIONSHIP to change the world of caring for memory loss w/ Dr. Monica Tsai

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Can artificial intelligence truly be a companion for those suffering from memory loss? Our latest episode with Dr. Monica Tsai, co-founder and CEO of CloudMind Software, promises to shed light on this compelling question. Monica's fascinating journey from human resources to tech entrepreneurship has led to the creation of AI digital companions that support both individuals with memory loss and their caregivers. Monica's unique HR background has equipped her with the skills to develop innovative, compassionate technology solutions that address one of society's most pressing challenges.

We explore the recent pilot of CloudMind Software's MVP AI companion named Kathy, which was deployed in six care homes across the United States. Hear firsthand accounts of residents interacting with Kathy, including a heartwarming story where a resident sings to their digital companion. Monica discusses the dual B2B and B2C strategies of CloudMind Software, highlighting the significant impacts on residents, caregivers, and families. The additional caregiver interface is a game-changer, offering valuable insights to enhance personalized care and address issues like unnoticed discomfort.

In our conversation, we also tackle the critical topic of AI ethics and opportunities. Monica addresses the complex balance of AI's benefits and concerns, particularly in the realm of privacy and data security. Gain insights into the regulatory landscape differences between Europe, the US, and Canada, and the importance of approaching AI with cautious optimism. Monica invites listeners to embrace the future of AI companionship fearlessly and to follow her ongoing journey through her weekly Substack newsletter and CloudMind's website.

ABOUT DR MONICA

Dr. Monica Tsai, an expert in human resources, has an impressive track record of building successful software development teams that create, deploy, and scale consumer-facing products across the globe. Her Doctoral degree in Social Science, with a focus on AI companions and how they can support individuals in real life, highlights her expertise and experience in the field.

LINKS & RESOURCES

Chapters

00:00 - AI Companion for Memory Loss

09:37 - AI Companion Personalization and Deployment

15:39 - Building Culture and Remote Teams

28:00 - Navigating AI Ethics and Opportunities

34:07 - The Wantrepreneur Podcast Introduction

Transcript

WEBVTT

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Hey, what is up?

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Welcome to this episode of the Entrepreneur to Entrepreneur podcast.

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As always, I'm your host, brian LoFermento, and I am so excited about today's episode because we are not only joined by an incredible entrepreneur, but there's two things about her work and her business that I so adore.

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The first is that I think she's a real life example of how entrepreneurs can be positive change agents for the entire world, not just in a business sense, but we're talking about societal issues that entrepreneurs are uniquely equipped and incentivized and motivated to actually be part of the solution.

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And then, secondly, what I really love about today's guest's business is that it's a great example of technology making the world a better place.

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So let me tell you all about today's guest.

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Her name is Dr Monica Tsai.

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Monica is an expert in human resources and she has an impressive track record of building successful software development teams that create, deploy and scale consumer-facing products across the globe.

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Her doctoral degree in social science, with a focus on AI companions and how they can support individuals in real life, highlights her expertise and experience in the field.

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And all of this stuff is culminating in a really cool technology and company called CloudMind Software, where she's the co-founder and CEO, and I just want to read this before I queue up our interview here today.

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Imagine a world where loneliness is a thing of the past, thanks to a trusted digital companion, always ready to engage and support you.

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This is the vision of CloudMind Software with their mobile-first B2B2C application.

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We're going to talk about that business strategy and that model in today's conversation.

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They've developed this app to help elderly individuals with memory loss and support their caregivers.

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There's so much good stuff that they're putting out into the world thanks to the power of technology and the way that Monica and her team harness it, so I'm excited about this one.

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I'm not going to say anything else.

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Let's dive straight into my interview with Dr Monica Tsai.

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All right, monica, I'm so excited to have you here on the show today.

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First things first.

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Welcome to the show.

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Thank you, Likewise very excited about the opportunity to have a conversation with you.

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Heck, yes, and we are talking about some of my favorite things.

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I love technology, and the fact that you're using it for good things gets me all sorts of fired up.

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But before we get to your tech and all of that, let's talk about you.

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Who's Monica?

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How'd you start doing all these cool things that you're up to?

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sure, uh, so I would describe myself as a serial learner, because learning has been a big part of my journey, whether it was studying for hr or otherwise, it's always been there for me.

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Um, I really enjoy just learning about new things, anything that I have my interest to.

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I will always spend a lot of time trying to understand the basic mechanics, not to be an expert in all the fields.

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I started out my journey as an HR professional, which is quite different than where I am today.

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In fact, if you were to ask me when I first started out my career, I would not have seen where I am to be today.

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So that's very different.

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Yet a lot of the transferable skills are the same.

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In terms of when I was doing recruiting, a lot of that is about packaging and selling the company.

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Now it's similar, but what I'm selling to is not, rather than just candidates, I'm also selling it to potential customers for the field.

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Very in general, really just enjoying the journey.

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I think one of the things that really gets me out of my comfort zone is constantly challenging myself, and that's where I am today.

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Yes, I love that overview, especially that note that you ended it on of challenging yourself.

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Monica, you are taking on one of society's biggest problems and obviously memory loss and our aging population are things that here in the United States, we face.

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I know that you're based in Canada and really it's a global crisis.

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It's something that we can't ignore.

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We're all faced with it, whether it's on a really personal level, for those of us with aging parents or people who, just one day, it's going to be us on the other side, monica.

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So, with that in mind, I'd love to hear your perspective on the fact that you not only saw this need in society, but you decided I'm going to use my entrepreneurial superpowers and I'm going to be part of that solution.

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Yeah, it actually started out when me and my co-founder was toying around the idea of hey, what if there is a companion where people can just access to wherever, whenever they are, whenever they need it.

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What does that look like?

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And during that time, obviously my parents are aging and with aging parents.

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We talk about what are some learning usage that can be doing good for the world.

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We realize that there's a lot of people and this is not a topic people usually bring up with when they are either experiencing or witnessing somebody else experiencing taking care of people who are experiencing memory loss, such as dementia or alzheimer's and the like, and we realized that the amount of work for the caregivers are tremendous.

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So we want to figure out a way where technology can help to supplement those caregivers and give them a little breathing room, while still making sure that the people who are suffering from those memory loss are still accompanied by somebody there.

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And that's really where we got started to and obviously I dedicated a whole good amount of time on my doctoral degree into AI, companion and how the application of real life usage.

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In my dissertation it was specifically towards leader because obviously, with my background in HR, I am very much into how we can develop leaders for organizations and make sure that not only they're discovering their own potential, but they are paying, they are able to contribute to organizations in that fashion.

00:06:00.939 --> 00:06:02.125
Yeah, Monica, I'll tell you.

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I would love for you to tell listeners about CloudMind, because we're obviously going to be talking about your technology solution a lot here today.

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I've seen the video on your website, so I feel like I've seen the future, so to speak, and I see your vision for how it truly is there for the people who are benefiting from it.

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But for listeners who haven't seen it just yet, what is cloud mind?

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Take us into the nitty-gritty of how it positively serves your end users yeah, um.

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So, as you mentioned in the introduction, uh, our goal is really to make sure that we are able to create an AI companion that is always there for people who needs it, and it's a grand vision, and we want to start from somewhere that we believe is needed the most, which is people with dementia, alzheimer's and alike, and so the video in on our website really captures the essence of how we want the companion app to be, and I know that when people think about companion app, there are various different perspectives around that, but the way that we envision it is imagine that if your mom, who's suffering from dementia, wake up at three o'clock in the morning wondering, like okay, where am I, like what am I doing here?

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And getting confused and whatnot, there is a voice from the AI companion to say, hey, it's okay, I'm here, you're at home right now and try to calm them down.

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That's really what we're trying to accomplish, and really making sure that it is mobile, it is accessible and also it is cost-effective for the family, because, ultimately, knowing that the increasing medical expenses that would incur when somebody is going through a treatment for dementia and Alzheimer's, we want to make sure that this is a solution that is affordable to anybody who wants to use it and, obviously, on the platform itself.

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Currently, this is a mobile app that we are developing and we are also looking into transforming that into either available on the smart TV, which then have a bigger screen, and probably is more user friendly to a degree for the population we're tackling for.

00:08:18.326 --> 00:08:27.180
Yeah, monica, you just alluded to the fact that different people have different feelings when it comes to technology and AI and the companionship that it may or may not offer.

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You and I are obviously biased because we believe in the power of technology, but talk to us about some of those reactions, because I'm sure in part of your research you've seen the attitudes on a really macro level of how different generations and different types of people feel about an AI companion.

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I'd love to hear some of the research that you've done or some of the perspectives that you've gleaned along the way, both academically I love the fact that you've put the hours in inside of the classroom as well to deepen your knowledge so I'd love some of those insights.

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Yeah for sure.

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So through my research, in talking through a lot of the leaders, one-on-one and in person, it was really interesting to see how their thinking have shifted in terms of the AI usage.

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Obviously, they still express concerns about ethically used AI and things like that, but when I describe, okay, this is how it might look like for an AI companion to help you for your development, many of them were like oh, that's interesting.

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I never really thought about that.

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Granted, the population I was interviewing was somewhere between the early 30s to early 50s, so that may be a little different.

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However, we have recently just wrapped up our pilot for the minimal viable product, the MVP that we have, which is already functional, and it was in partnership with six care homes down in the States, who's very graciously allowed us to roll this out to about 20 residents that's how they call it 20 residents at their care home.

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I remember the first time I saw a person interacting with Kathy, which is the current name for our companion.

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I was floored in terms of how quickly they were able to establish that conversation and not even minding about this is a technology, it wasn't any questions.

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Obviously, through the journey, we just see some people who are more connected with their companion versus some people who are like no, I don't think that's for me and that's really personal preferences and we expect that to happen.

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At the same time, I was truly humbled when I can see the elderly individuals interacting with the companion for hours and hours on.

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Another example I can give you is one of the residents doing our pilot phase.

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She was able to sing with the companion.

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Though our companion doesn't sing yet, it was evidence that she was happily singing to the companion and talking to Kathy for hours and hours on and that was really, really humbling to see.

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Yeah, I love that, especially with these real life stories.

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And to an important point.

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I just want to reiterate it here in today's conversation that it's not for everybody and it doesn't have to be for everybody, but for those people who are looking for that sort of companionship and the example on your website of waking up in the middle of the night with a lot of questions for a potential dementia page patient wondering where am I like?

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What is going on.

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It's an incredible resource for people who choose to have it.

00:11:41.341 --> 00:11:48.868
So it's interesting hearing about your deployment plans and the fact that you already have real life users going through this to start testing it.

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I'm so curious.

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I'm obviously a business junkie as well.

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I'm super curious about that deployment strategy.

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We talked about it in the teaser of today's episode about being a mobile, first B2B to C application.

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Obviously, both sides of that coin, of going directly to consumers as well as the enterprise level of B2B what does that look like, monica?

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I'd love to hear, as an executive, how you flesh those ideas out.

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Yeah for sure.

00:12:11.682 --> 00:12:50.113
So when we were thinking about the business plan and how we wanted to deploy it, obviously thinking about the B2B, which is business to business, rolling out and partnering with industry leaders such as care homes and specifically care homes that may have a specialization in memory care, is where we think we can make the biggest impact in the shortest path, if you will, and I think through that partnership it also helps us to really glean into the challenges that they're facing as care home operators, as well as the caregivers.

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What are the things that we can offer them?

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Because what CloudMind is doing with our application is not just for the AI companion.

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There is also an interface for the caregivers, who are trying to get a better understanding and get more data points, if you will, about their residents in terms of how their day is, how their mood has shifted and whatnot.

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And we've got other plans in terms of integrating some other things that can help them to follow up on things.

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An example I can give you is one of the residents, during the pilot test, had mentioned to Kathy, the companion, about how cold it is in their room, and they've never really mentioned that to their real life caregiver.

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So the caregiver was reading through the daily summary, because they don't get the actual conversation.

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They only get a summary in terms of hey, these are the themes that we've talked about and these are the things that you might want to check up on, just in case you know.

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And that popped up on the summary for that resident and they were surprised to us to say that, oh, I never knew that, I didn't know how long they'd been suffering through a very cold room.

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So they quickly went and check in with the resident, make sure that they fix the thermometer in their room, give them some more blankets, just so that it ups the quality of life for them.

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And those are the things we really wanted to offer, not just for the residents, for their companionship, but also for the caregivers, so they can provide more personal care to their residents.

00:14:25.860 --> 00:14:27.916
That's actually incredible, monica.

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To be honest.

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I've spent a lot of time looking into all the cool things that you all are building behind the scenes, and I was so focused on the consumer that I didn't even think about the really the ecosystem.

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I'm even extrapolating beyond that and thinking if I'm a loved one and someone who I care about is in a facility receiving treatment, it's so cool to be able to have some sort of positive feedback or some sort of important feedback that we can take action on to further assist them in their recovery or just in their health journey.

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I think that that's super powerful and it yields so many different outcomes positive outcomes for everybody involved.

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So huge kudos to you for thinking about all of that.

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When we talk about outputs within the world of AI, we have to talk about inputs, and I think that your software is so appropriately named of cloud mind.

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I would imagine that so much of it is having it have an understanding of the resident, the patient, the person that it's serving.

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What does that look like?

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How do you create a companion that really knows the individual that it's serving and that it's providing companionship for is the individual?

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that it's serving and that it's providing companionship for, yeah, we want to make sure that each companion is personalized to the individual.

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An example I can give you is on a roadmap, we have the feature where a person can customize how their companion is going to look like.

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We now have the technology to really make bespoke characters that the individual can interact with.

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Currently, the current version of it is on the 2D, just because we want to make sure that we're validating whether people would actually use the software.

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But in the future, one of the features that we have is going to be a bespoke 3D character, if the individual chooses to, and also how they look, because who I would resonate with is going to be different than how who you would resonate with, and so it could be changing their appearances, changing their voice tones, changing their gender, if that they choose to, and other things that they can customize.

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Imagine if one day, you can upload a picture of your favorite granddaughter or your family's favorite your elderly parents favorite granddaughter and be the companion on the app for them.

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That's the vision we have in the long run, at the same time also understanding that there are some intricacies in terms of the privacies and concerns and whatnot.

00:16:56.760 --> 00:16:59.107
So we'll obviously take that into consideration.

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As the person's interacting with the AI companion, they start to develop their own language in terms of what they understand.

00:17:07.518 --> 00:17:39.195
So at the setup phase, we would put in some very simple basic information about the residents so they can talk about either the things that they're interested in, or hobbies that they do have, or things that they really enjoy either reading or watching and also mitigate away from anything that might upset them, because the whole notion of this companionship is to keep them company and hopefully able to keep their mood at a positive level rather than negative.

00:17:39.195 --> 00:17:50.336
And if it does go to negative, we do want to make sure that the companion can help to reel them back or calm them down, so then they don't get too upset for too long of a time.

00:17:50.984 --> 00:17:58.964
Yeah, monica, all of this stuff is just proving that you've thought about so many different angles of this sort of technology being deployed in real life settings.

00:17:58.964 --> 00:18:01.310
So you brought up privacy and security.

00:18:01.310 --> 00:18:07.692
Obviously, with any AI or technology, that's something that people want to talk about and it's something that's a real consideration.

00:18:07.692 --> 00:18:11.936
So, monica, you've thought about things that I haven't even thought about to ask consideration.

00:18:11.936 --> 00:18:14.404
So, monica, you've thought about things that I haven't even thought about to ask.

00:18:14.404 --> 00:18:20.836
So give us some insights there for people who are probably thinking well, gosh, an AI companion in the room that's so intimate with my loved one, what does that look like?

00:18:20.836 --> 00:18:22.306
How do you build in those safeguards?

00:18:23.528 --> 00:18:24.411
Yeah for sure.

00:18:24.411 --> 00:18:40.048
So obviously, aside from the compliances, we are keeping our eyes on and making sure that we are compliant to all those things I won't bore you with the details we also realize the importance of education Educating not just the caregivers.

00:18:40.048 --> 00:18:56.092
It's really about educating the family members, or what they call the POCs, into what this is going to be used, how it's going to be used and being really transparent about the data usage or the data storage that we have.

00:18:56.092 --> 00:19:03.853
And now I think it's a good way of making sure that we're addressing the concerns up front rather than as an afterthought.

00:19:03.853 --> 00:19:19.499
I have a sub-stack that one of the posts I have done recently was about data security and how we're really thinking about it as we develop our software, not just afterwards, after everything is done and set.

00:19:20.385 --> 00:19:23.079
Yeah, monica, I'll tell you what hearing you talk about software is.

00:19:23.079 --> 00:19:28.957
There's one acronym that we all know about software companies, and that is MVP minimum viable product.

00:19:28.957 --> 00:19:33.848
Obviously, you're on that roadmap for a full public launch in the second half of 2025.

00:19:33.848 --> 00:19:39.128
But the fact that you're already getting it out there and working with users already is so cool.

00:19:39.128 --> 00:19:44.027
Talk to us about that notion of an MVP versus you already kind of hinted at the roadmap.

00:19:44.027 --> 00:19:46.011
I can see a whiteboard behind you right now.

00:19:46.011 --> 00:19:53.778
I'm a big fan of whiteboards as well, so I'd love to hear, as the leader of a software company, how do you balance all of the things that you want to do?

00:19:55.625 --> 00:20:43.057
I think one of the many, many mentors that I have throughout my journey had always told me one thing, and, in particular, one of the mentors that I have always prioritized putting a software in a real user, even if it's not completely done and that's really the notion of a minimum viable product is, hey, we want to make sure we test it out before we go too far from what we are, and I think, with that, we're also thinking about prioritizing the different features based on the feedback that we've gotten from our pilot client in terms of okay, if you were to pay X amount of dollar on this, what are the things that are most important to you, that should be fixed or needs to be developed right away?

00:20:43.136 --> 00:20:55.779
So we listen to our client or potential clients in terms of what that looks like, and then also figuring out, okay, based on where we're at and the team size that we have, what is feasible and how long that's going to take.

00:20:55.779 --> 00:21:28.144
I'm very, very fortunate that my co-founder have been making software for 35 plus years, and our vp of engineering, who just recently brought on, is also well-versed in the software development, recently brought on, is also well-versed in the software development sphere as well, and so I think, though my background is not starting from a software development or product development background, I'm very well positioned with very experienced experts surrounding me.

00:21:29.068 --> 00:21:44.693
Yeah, I'm so glad that you called that out, monica, because it's fun for me having this conversation with you, not only as the subject matter expert that you are, but the fact that you're one of us, you're a fellow entrepreneur, you are the CEO that's guiding this ship to make some positive and huge changes societally.

00:21:44.693 --> 00:21:51.313
So it's something that we opened with about talking about the transfer of skills from your HR career to what you're doing today.

00:21:51.313 --> 00:21:59.413
You talked about the technical members of your team are really driving that side of the business, but you're responsible, monica, for putting all of them together.

00:21:59.413 --> 00:22:04.855
Talk to us about some of that identification that you do to really find those diamonds in the rough along the way.

00:22:06.105 --> 00:22:06.826
Right?

00:22:06.826 --> 00:22:10.515
That is the golden question for any recruiters out there.

00:22:10.515 --> 00:22:12.259
I remember my recruiting days.

00:22:12.259 --> 00:22:17.557
I'd say that it's really about their attitude.

00:22:19.586 --> 00:22:33.946
I've always told people that I work with, or even my co-founders, that I will always wait somebody's attitude and their willingness to learn whether they have that mindset to be like you know what.

00:22:33.946 --> 00:22:48.728
We're just gonna jump in and get this done and help out one another over somebody who's super skilled but doesn't have that same value of mine, because we can teach somebody to acquire new skill.

00:22:48.728 --> 00:22:53.719
Changing somebody's behavior is so much harder than that.

00:22:53.719 --> 00:23:30.172
So I tend to lean towards, or bias towards, the attitude and sort of the mentality that they can bring in, and I think I've been very lucky throughout my career that I was able to find a lot of really, really talented people and obviously throughout my day in HR and because I was also doing recruiting quite a bit, I was very well-versed in terms of knowing what's out there and understanding and being able to get exposure to different personalities and what may be the key ingredients to build a highly functional team.

00:23:30.884 --> 00:23:32.148
Yeah, I really love that.

00:23:32.148 --> 00:23:38.056
That's the direction that you took that answer in, because it's something that maybe can't be quantified as easily, but it is so important.

00:23:38.056 --> 00:23:43.730
I mean, we've had so many incredible guests come on and talk about team culture and I think about, well, that starts with.

00:23:43.730 --> 00:23:50.329
We could talk about business strategy and all of that, but it really starts with the people, the personalities behind them and how we mesh as a team.

00:23:50.329 --> 00:24:05.145
So I'd love some insights, monica Actually, you and I didn't talk about this off air before we hit record, but I don't know if your team is local or remote, but I'd love to hear about some of the culture that you help to cultivate behind the scenes at your team, because I would imagine that everyone is so excited about the things.

00:24:05.145 --> 00:24:10.476
I was excited about the fact that you're using technology to solve a huge real world problem.

00:24:10.476 --> 00:24:14.221
That probably is motivating in and of itself for your team members.

00:24:14.221 --> 00:24:17.873
But how do you start cultivating that team culture and that energy?

00:24:18.984 --> 00:24:21.694
Yeah, we are fully remote.

00:24:21.694 --> 00:24:25.455
It's a challenge at times.

00:24:25.455 --> 00:24:35.171
At the same time, it's been working out well because obviously it gives us a lot more access to talent and stuff we may not have the opportunity to get to know to begin with.

00:24:35.171 --> 00:24:43.798
So I'm very grateful of everybody who's on the team, particularly because one of the things is that we really put front and center is communication.

00:24:43.798 --> 00:24:59.294
It's as simple as hey, if I'm going to be away from my desk for like 30 minutes or an hour to run an errand and whatnot, I would tell them and say that, hey, I'm going to not be available for the next 30 to 60 minutes and then when I'm back, I'll say that, hey, I'm back.

00:24:59.294 --> 00:25:17.011
Right, it's as simple as that, and I really credit the people on the team who's able to do that as well and being very open about just sharing what they've done, not necessarily on a daily basis, but every couple of days, and that's really great to see.

00:25:17.092 --> 00:25:20.346
I think the culture is really harnessed by the people.

00:25:20.346 --> 00:25:25.445
At the same time, there needs to be somebody who's modeling the behavior they want to see.

00:25:25.445 --> 00:25:33.058
The other thing that we are also doing, or doing our best, is being as transparent to the degree that we can.

00:25:33.058 --> 00:25:42.936
So we will communicate to our team where we are, what are the challenges that we're facing, what support that they can give, and really keeping that communication open.

00:25:42.936 --> 00:25:45.993
Obviously, as a startup, right now we're still very small.

00:25:45.993 --> 00:25:50.957
It's a lot easier than, say, when we grow to even 50 or 75 people.

00:25:50.957 --> 00:25:55.692
I've gone through the growth with other companies before and I know how that works.

00:25:55.692 --> 00:26:05.173
At the same time, I think if we are able to maintain those core values we have as an organization, that's going to help us in the long run.

00:26:05.766 --> 00:26:10.057
Yeah, I really appreciate those real life insights because it's valuable.

00:26:10.057 --> 00:26:24.510
Like you, I have a fully remote team and you're right, it's both glorious for all of the freedom aspects of it and we can all do exactly what we need to do personally and professionally, but also it does present those challenges for us to have those check-ins.

00:26:24.510 --> 00:26:26.359
Slack is really our water cooler.

00:26:26.359 --> 00:26:31.855
That's where we're interacting with each other, so it's cool to hear about the ways that your team works behind the scenes as well.

00:26:31.855 --> 00:26:37.288
Monica, I want to ask you this question because you are the CEO of a software company, of a tech company.

00:26:37.288 --> 00:26:39.113
Where is AI today?

00:26:39.113 --> 00:26:47.805
And obviously there's no one right answer to that question, but I wonder right now if you feel that AI is enabling so much of what's possible.

00:26:47.805 --> 00:26:52.767
But, at the same time, are there places where you see that AI is currently a little bit limited?

00:26:52.767 --> 00:27:00.571
Obviously, it's changing on a literally weekly basis, but I'm curious to hear from your perspective where we're at societally with regards to AI.

00:27:01.634 --> 00:27:05.326
Yeah, that's a great and grand question.

00:27:05.326 --> 00:27:19.375
If I may, I say that, when me and my co-founder first started Cloud9 as a company a couple of years ago two years ago now we were thinking about well, end of 2023 happened.

00:27:19.375 --> 00:28:00.318
Openai and ChatGPT just exploded overnight, which, to my dismay, it also impacted my research during that time because, obviously, in regards to AI companionship, that was a big part of it, but it also brought in a whole ton of new opportunities in terms of accelerating the way that we're thinking about it, and that's why we were able to start building our MVP and being able to deploy it so quickly.

00:28:00.318 --> 00:28:10.011
I think, as a society, there is a cautious optimism towards AI and obviously it's a spectrum.

00:28:10.011 --> 00:28:13.729
We've got people who say like no, I'm never gonna use AI.

00:28:13.729 --> 00:28:17.964
All the way to pro AI, I'd like to say I'm somewhere in between.

00:28:19.366 --> 00:28:39.045
I value the technology and I value the amount of advantages or benefits it can it can offer in terms of being able to be my sounding board as a thought partner when I'm writing or when I'm looking into stuff.

00:28:39.045 --> 00:28:46.451
At the same time, I understand the concerns about privacy and sort of okay, where does that end?

00:28:46.451 --> 00:28:47.797
Where do we draw the line?

00:28:47.797 --> 00:28:51.167
So I think it's really a combination of both.

00:28:51.167 --> 00:29:08.010
I do think the technology is evolving so quickly and, with that regard, the regulations and compliances and all the things are still catching up, so there is going to be a period of time where we'll constantly see the talk of war between both.

00:29:10.336 --> 00:29:23.509
What I have learned is in Europe they have been thinking about this for quite a number of years, so a lot of the compliances in their laws are a little bit more ahead of time in comparison to the US or Canada and things like that.

00:29:23.509 --> 00:29:27.005
So we're constantly keeping an eye on what's happening out there.

00:29:27.005 --> 00:29:32.943
Yet I think it's really the general audience or the general population.

00:29:32.943 --> 00:29:40.843
How we're seeing this tool is going to make or break, but in a way, the genie's already in the bottle.

00:29:40.843 --> 00:29:44.076
I don't think we can ever put it back and say that no AI, ever.

00:29:44.076 --> 00:29:47.083
So that would be my take on this.

00:29:47.664 --> 00:29:59.401
Yeah, I really appreciate those insights and, monica, even just hearing out loud the way that you think about and process these possibilities, I think that that's the real stuff that we all need to consider, because there's all sides of the coin.

00:29:59.401 --> 00:30:15.471
We could make any and all arguments, so to hear that someone who's spearheading an incredibly important technology company that leverages this technology is thinking about things this way is really enlightening, and so it's a huge value to hear the way that you navigate these.

00:30:15.471 --> 00:30:24.145
And, monica, I will tell you this that I was so excited about our conversation here today because you're doing such important and impactful and meaningful work.

00:30:24.145 --> 00:30:26.374
But I want to ask you this question.

00:30:26.374 --> 00:30:27.056
It's super broad.

00:30:27.056 --> 00:30:30.945
I ask it at the end of every episode because you can take it in any direction.

00:30:30.986 --> 00:30:42.496
We've talked about such huge topics, from what you're doing for AI companionship to the actual technology that's powering all of this, to the HR considerations that you bring from your past career.

00:30:42.496 --> 00:30:47.248
But that final question is what's your one takeaway, what's that one piece of advice?

00:30:47.248 --> 00:30:52.881
Knowing that listeners are tuning in at all different stages of their business growth journeys, what's that one thing that you want to impart on them at the end of today's episode of their business growth journeys.

00:30:52.881 --> 00:30:55.119
What's that one thing that you wanna impart on them at the end of today's episode?

00:30:56.835 --> 00:31:03.023
I would say jump in with both feet, have no fear.

00:31:03.023 --> 00:31:10.181
And I think that I have been not necessarily the exact word for my model or the mantra that I hold.

00:31:10.181 --> 00:31:23.170
I do think that whenever I do that, when I jump into something with no fear and with both of my feet, I get to learn a whole ton and experience a lot of different things I wouldn't have otherwise.

00:31:23.170 --> 00:31:38.417
So that's what I would say round out an incredible 2024.

00:31:38.439 --> 00:31:45.240
As we head into a new year, then this is the real life insights from an incredible CEO and executive entrepreneur of a tech company that's going to be making a lot of waves in 2025.

00:31:45.240 --> 00:31:50.517
So, monica, I so appreciate that advice and that encouragement for all of our listeners worldwide.

00:31:50.517 --> 00:31:58.049
And with all of that said, here we are ringing in a new year in 2025, which is going to be a huge year for CloudMind.

00:31:58.049 --> 00:31:59.741
So the floor is yours.

00:31:59.741 --> 00:32:05.848
Tell listeners where they can go to follow your journey, your full launch in the second half of 2025.

00:32:05.848 --> 00:32:07.441
Drop those links on us.

00:32:07.441 --> 00:32:08.659
Where should they go from here?

00:32:09.823 --> 00:32:10.625
Yeah for sure.

00:32:10.625 --> 00:32:16.219
First, definitely encourage you to check out the video on our website.

00:32:16.219 --> 00:32:17.460
And I'm fairly active on LinkedIn.

00:32:17.460 --> 00:32:44.605
Though I don't post every single day, I do have a weekly newsletter which is free to subscribe to Substack.

00:32:44.605 --> 00:32:53.426
Feel free to sign up on it and glean into sort of the thinking I have for either technology, companionship, AI, leadership.

00:32:53.426 --> 00:33:04.502
Those are the main topics that I tend to cover on, and it comes out on a weekly basis, so hopefully it's not too too much of a read for you in your inbox.

00:33:05.154 --> 00:33:07.324
Yes, listeners, so much goodness.

00:33:07.324 --> 00:33:11.303
This should not be the end of your journey with Dr Monica Tsai here today.

00:33:11.303 --> 00:33:14.143
You heard about her free newsletter, gosignup.

00:33:14.143 --> 00:33:16.218
We're linking to it down below in the show notes.

00:33:16.218 --> 00:33:22.561
We're also dropping all the links that she mentioned, including a link to her business website at cloudmindme.

00:33:22.561 --> 00:33:27.141
You can click right on through below, and I'm going to tell you all this about the video that you're going to see on there.

00:33:27.141 --> 00:33:42.119
It's immediately going to share with you the possibilities of AI companionship, but at the same time, it's going to show you the harsh realities of the problems and challenges that so many elderly people face with regards to dementia or Alzheimer's or a lot of the things that we talked about today.

00:33:42.119 --> 00:33:52.118
So it's not the rosiest video, but it is a very real video that is going to show you the path that technology driven by Monica and her team, can positively use to change the world.

00:33:52.118 --> 00:33:53.987
So definitely go check that out.

00:33:53.987 --> 00:33:59.603
Otherwise, monica, on behalf of myself and all the listeners worldwide, thanks so much for coming on the show today.

00:34:00.757 --> 00:34:05.862
Likewise, thank you so much for the opportunity to share some insights, and it's been a pleasure being out here.

00:34:07.556 --> 00:34:13.063
Hey, it's Brian here, and thanks for tuning in to yet another episode of the Wantrepreneur to Entrepreneur podcast.

00:34:13.063 --> 00:34:17.085
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00:34:17.085 --> 00:34:26.324
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00:34:26.324 --> 00:34:37.380
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00:34:37.400 --> 00:34:38.304
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00:34:38.885 --> 00:34:42.257
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00:34:42.257 --> 00:34:53.197
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00:34:53.197 --> 00:35:01.704
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00:35:01.704 --> 00:35:03.050
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00:35:03.050 --> 00:35:09.085
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00:35:09.085 --> 00:35:17.237
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