Wisdom From The Women Leading The AI Industry, With Aliya Grig of Evolwe
… combined a great team of talents and partners and we’re building the technology that helps humanity live a better life. The second example is related to success. When I was involved in space projects, I launched several educational programs for children who began to learn about space, became involved in this topic, and further developed in this area. I think this is very cool because it has improved the world in more than one ways.
As part of our series about the women leading the Artificial Intelligence industry, I had the pleasure of interviewing Aliya Grig.
Aliya Grig is the founder of the AI startup Evolwe, whose focus is to create an empathetic AI technology. Aliya is also the founder of Cosmos City — an innovation hub for space tech startups. She is an expert in neuroscience, a Karman Space Foundation member, a Battleverse Advisory Board member, and a mentor at a Growth Mentor platform.
Aliya Grig has 14 years’ background launching startups in renewable energy, space tech and AI on a global scale. She is a regular speaker at international conferences such as the BMW Future Forum, Seedstars, Hey Growth Summit, and TEDx. Aliya Grig also participates in mentor sessions for programs including Growth Mentor, Women in Tech, and EMERGE. In 2018, Aliya Grig was shortlisted for the Forbes Europe Young Entrepreneurs list. In 2021, Aliya was listed among the Top 100 women entrepreneurs in AI.
Thank you so much for joining us in this interview series! Can you share with us the ‘backstory” of how you decided to pursue this career path in AI?
Thank you for the invitation to the interview. How did I decide to pursue a career path in AI? I believe that mathematics and algorithms have great potential to create technologies, projects, and products to improve human life and make your life easier. By simplifying daily tasks with technology, you can focus on more important things. And AI can do it much better because it provides access to products and opportunities to a larger number of people. I’ve always been interested in AI in terms of whether AI can be conscious or emotional. For the last 7 years I’ve been studying the principles of how the brain works, human neurobiology, and how the structure of the psyche works and how it can be applicable to create a new generation of AI.
What lessons can others learn from your story?
Well, I have had quite an interesting path, with ups and downs along the way.
The first lesson is to never agree to something that doesn’t personally light you up inside and make your heart sing. You should only pursue what drives and inspires you.
Lesson two is to always focus on your big idea and give yourself praise for even small achievements, and small results. When you think dailly about achieving another small step to implement your dream into reality, this is positive support for your brain, and it helps you move faster and more efficiently toward your results.
The third lesson is if you encounter difficulties, don’t lose faith or hope, try to find solutions and find innovative ways to solve problems.
The fourth lesson is to inspire the people around you by what you do. Because among them there are those like-minded people, and it’s a potential community around your product, which helps to promote it further.
Can you tell our readers about the most interesting projects you are working on now?
Right now I’m working on the Evolwe project. We are creating an empathetic AI technology. Our core product is an AI platform to build various products based on our technology. Currently we’re focused on one of our products. It’s a virtual AI companion (Nova) to help people in different situations. Nova helps people to become a better version of themselves and easily reach their goals. Nova helps people choose the right path for them, it provides support in challenging situations and helps find new opportunities. Our mission is to make our world a better place by improving the quality of life for everyone.
Our product has breakthrough technology. Evolwe is based on emotional intelligence, CBT, coaching, neuroscience, and psychology.
Our technology draws diagnostic materials from psychology to determine a person’s current state of mind and being. Understanding the signs of neurotic states allows AI to identify them and offer recommendations and meditation practices. General psychology provides knowledge about the nature of emotions, thinking and behavior. The CBT, together with coaching, enriches the methodology with specially designed exercises for a better understanding of oneself and the development of reflection. To the spread of “goal-setting” popular in modern times, the concept adds the experience of the Gestalt approach in improving people’s quality of life and more effectively meeting their needs.
We also have a number of advantages.
First, we use a proprietary learning NLU module designed to recognize intents, essences, toxic language, and emotions. It’s a dialogue manager:
One of the options we’re exploring is recommending special immediate response services to help the user in a difficult crisis situation. They will receive qualified emergency care. For example, if a person is experiencing suicidal thoughts, our product will immediately provide them with a recommendation for a service that specializes only in such complex cases.
Secondly, our technology is based on empathic AI, which engages like a human based on neurophysiology, thought analysis, emotional intelligence.
Third, we use Neural network styles: a proprietary development underlying the bot’s capability to simulate a particular person’s language and semantics.
We have really cool technology that was developed by a team of top international experts from Stanford, Harvard and the International Coaching Federation. And we’re improving it every day. Our technology can be used in a variety of industries. For example, we are considering developing our technology in medicine, training, and human assistance, among others.
None of us are able to achieve success without some help along the way. Is there a particular person who you are grateful towards who helped get you to where you are? Can you share a story about that?
There are so many people here to whom I am grateful and thanks to whom I am now evolving, moving, and getting to where I am today. First of all, my family and my loved ones. That’s my husband and children. My children inspire me daily, and my husband is very supportive and believes in my work. If the people closest to you don’t believe in what you’re doing, success is impossible, and it’s impossible to achieve astonishing and great results.
Also, my team inspires me. I believe that only teamwork can create breakthrough products. A team is when people create something together, develop it together and drive the project.
When I first thought about this project, I started to share it with my husband and my friends, and many of them and my husband, in particular, said, “Oh my God, this is really cool. This is what it takes. Do it!”. And because of that support, too, I started creating the product.
I’m also very grateful to my neuroscience professor. He is also very interested in the topic of AI. His belief in what I am doing and his support helped me immensely at the beginning of my journey.
What are the 5 things that most excite you about the AI industry? Why?
The first is the speed of technological development and the vast number of new opportunities emerging every week.
The second is integrating with other fields of knowledge, for example AI with neurophysiology and neurobiology.
Thirdly, its possibilities of application. The ability to help a large number of people.
Fourthly, it is interdisciplinary approaches and teams. In our product for example we use a combination of AI, NLP, applied mathematics, neurobiology.
Fifth, it is a great community of specialists who think outside the box.
What are the 5 things that concern you about the AI industry? Why?
First of all, the privacy of user data. As a negative example, we can recall the case of Facebook, when the data of 533 million users ended up in the public domain. A database of this size, containing personal information, indeed leads to attackers using the data for hacking attempts or fraudulent actions.
The second is the ethical use of AI technology. It uses information only for good purposes. That is ethicality in terms of what AI can recommend and what it cannot. And how to proceed, for example, in complex cases.
Third, it’s safety from a human point of view. That is, whether AI can be harmful or not.
Fourth is determining the correct data set, complex algorithms, and training AI models. AI systems are driven and developed by leveraging quality data. It can be pretty hard to determine which data to use. Also, when we create AI-based algorithms, we realize that continuous training of ML or AI models might require considerable human resources, which can become quite challenging for us.
Fifth, it’s organization of cooperation, proper research, and interdisciplinary communication of teams.
As you know, there is an ongoing debate between prominent scientists, (personified as a debate between Elon Musk and Mark Zuckerberg,) about whether advanced AI has the future potential to pose a danger to humanity. What is your position about this?
I think this is a super hot topic right now. But really, it all depends on what we invest in AI and who directly controls it. If this AI is run by a responsible and reasonable person with no personal intentions to destroy humanity, then everything is fine. And if a person has selfish goals and purposes, then there is a danger to society. And there are a considerable number of different scenarios, starting with the fact that man, with the help of data, will control people’s thoughts. And here, unfortunately, there are some terrible examples. Because really, how can algorithms already manage our preferences or tell us what to buy and what not to buy? It’s inherently behavioral management. And that’s where I see a huge risk.
What can be done to prevent such concerns from materializing? And what can be done to assure the public that there is nothing to be concerned about?
I think that the main story is to do decentralized management of sizeable AI systems in the first place. That is, not just one person managing it and deciding how and what, and where to use it. It has to be like a decentralized community, which votes and makes decisions about how to use it. The second point is to limit access to personal data algorithms. So based on that, the community can’t control our behavior and make us buy more or buy certain ads. The third thing, as I said earlier, is the privacy and security of human data.
How have you used your success to bring goodness to the world? Can you share a story?
Well, I definitely bring goodness to the world through the success of the Evolwe project. We’ve combined a great team of talents and partners and we’re building the technology that helps humanity live a better life. The second example is related to success. When I was involved in space projects, I launched several educational programs for children who began to learn about space, became involved in this topic, and further developed in this area. I think this is very cool because it has improved the world in more than one ways.
As you know, there are not that many women in your industry. Can you share 3 things that you would advise to other women in the AI space to thrive?
Here’s what I can recommend to women in this particular area:
First is to stay female and not try to be male, although AI, like many other fields, is quite a male field. I mean, it’s from a gender perspective that male specialists dominate this field. But I think everyone is equal here. I’ve seen a number of cases where a woman is trying to copy a man. But really, a woman needs to remain a woman because each of us is unique. And women have the strength also to lead the development and create products in this field.
The second piece of advice is to balance family and career. I know many women think it’s impossible to combine these things. But I believe it is possible, as I have a family and three kids. The main thing is to think that combining AI, family, personal interests, and life, in general, is possible.
The third piece of advice is to use your creativity. I mean this kind of creative approach in AI because that is what can allow for very non-standard solutions and help create an incredible product technology.
Can you advise what is needed to engage more women into the AI industry?
To get more women involved in AI, I think we need to tell women more publicly about who is working in the field and who is creating projects. Share experiences to inspire others. I often do this myself, and I see how much it resonates with other women. And it’s also essential to do the right kind of informational support, share stories, and inspire others. When hiring, women and men should be considered equally. By the way, our team has female and male developers in the field of AI. We don’t have any gender traits by which we recruit people to the team. And, of course, mentorship helps a lot. I mentor women who are involved in technology and AI. And the more mentorship, the better.
What is your favorite “Life Lesson Quote”? Can you share a story of how that had relevance to your own life?
“Imagination is more important than knowledge. Knowledge is limited. Imagination encircles the world.” Albert Einstein.
I like this quote a lot, and it’s like a Life Lesson for me. It’s a key one for me. When I started to build our AI technology, I was thinking and dreaming using my imagination and perception. Why hasn’t anyone else done AI using models of the human brain, the psyche, and thinking? And how can these be combined? And can AI fully understand, read you, and be such a kind helper and friend? And that’s really the impetus in the field of imagination that further gave the impetus to the creation and emergence of product technology. And that’s what powerfully drives me. The other area is my space projects that came before that. They were also based on imagination because I dreamed about space development and as a result began making products.
You are a person of great influence. If you could start a movement that would bring the most amount of good to the most amount of people, what would that be? You never know what your idea can trigger. :-)
In fact, I have already started such a movement, including the AI project. The primary mission of our project is not just to create simply a friend and companion. Our whole movement and idea is to help everyone see their unlimited possibilities and strengths, and essentially be completely open in terms of their life goals and help them realize their life mission and destiny. I believe this is when a person moves along their life path and realizes that they are indeed in harmony, balance, and happy. The happier, more conscious, and balanced people are on the planet, the better everything will be in this world. New technologies will appear, excellent and exciting products will be created, space will be explored, and there will be more good, more peace, fewer wars, less destruction, and negative stories. I want to make this a positive story!
How can our readers follow you on social media?
Instagram: @aliyagalaktika
https://instagram.com/aliyagalaktika
Instagram: @aliyagrig
https://www.instagram.com/aliyagrig/
Twitter: @AliyaGrig
LinkedIn: Aliya Grig
https://www.linkedin.com/in/aliyagrig
Official website of Aliya Grig
Official website of Evolwe
This was very inspiring. Thank you so much for joining us!
