AI Overload: Cutting Through the Hype to Gain Practical Wins with Maya Mikhailov

Today we’re sharing another insightful presentation from our most recent Innovative Executives League Summit, where Maya Mikhailov, Chief Executive Officer and founder of SAVVI AI, discusses machine learning as a powerful toolkit of solutions. Comparing efficiency with and without AI, she highlights how the proper tool makes the difference and cuts through assumptions. Is Chat GPT the AI tool that makes Amazon such a success? No. It is Amazon's recommendation engine built on billions of data points. Looking beyond the hype of select functionalities of machine learning, AI applications abound.

In this episode, Maya introduces AI’s key practical uses, as she currently views the technology: decision automation, classification and prediction, large language models, and writing documentation and code. She emphasizes how natural language makes a query more accessible than programmatic language and shares example after example of increasing efficiency. Maya’s presentation sheds insight into where AI technologies are gaining traction (delinquencies) and continuing to grow in popularity (writing content). 

Maya dives into the importance of guardrails, building trust, and maintaining transparency when utilizing machine learning. She shares where AI is having massive success (summarizing data) and the problems that might emerge from AI reliance (“code bloat”). Maya discusses how when AI is wrong, it is still learning. Employing the right AI tool is essential for strategy and meeting goals.

• (1:40) – Machine learning
• (4:45) – Examining data without AI
• (5:41) – AI-executed tactics
• (7:16) – Generative AI
• (9:14) – Hallucinating 
• (10:57) – The practical realities
• (12:41) – Decision automation
• (15:28) – Classifications
• (17:10) – Predictions
• (18:15) – Large language models
• (22:03) – Writing documentation and code

Maya Mikhailov is the Chief Executive Officer and founder of SAVVI AI. She co-founded GPShopper, which Synchrony acquired in 2017. At Synchrony, Maya served as SVP and General Manager of the Direct-to-Consumer group (FinTech AI). She has been a speaker at CES Money 2020 and CTIA and featured in Bloomberg, CNBC, Forbes, Business Insider, and other outlets. Maya served as an adjunct professor at New York University, lecturing on digital and mobile technology. She earned a bachelor's degree in international management at American University.

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Podcast episode production by Dante32.