This is not a post to boast about numbers but a post to reflect on the important mission of dair.ai, how much we have grown over the year, and how we plan to keep growing. The mission is clear — “to communicate and educate about AI technologies, research, and perspectives in a responsible manner.” I think we have done an okay job in our first year of existence, wouldn’t you agree?
The Process
It feels like it was just yesterday when I decided to start this publication. Actually, it has been a little over a year. Yes, a year ago I decided to invest in the domain, dair.ai, and launch it as a publication. All I can say is that it amazes me how much it has grown over the past months, the feedback, and how useful it has been for some of you that are reading this at the moment.
I have received tons of emails and messages with thank you notes and have even met some of you in person or conversed through remote chat. I have even received multiple professional opportunities because of this publication but the most important thing for me are the friendships I have established over the year.
I mean, just take a look at one of the comments left by one of our readers this week. It is a blessing more than anything!
I couldn’t be more thankful to you for taking a couple minutes of your busy day to review the latest trends via the NLP Newsletter, keep up to date with some of the most important AI research via the research summaries, and for allowing me to express my perspectives and views via the AI Diary. I have grown in the process and continue to look at ways on how to improve the publication and to stick to our core mission.
The Challenge
Writing regularly for this publication has been one of my greatest challenges but also one of the most fruitful experiences. In the process, I have allowed myself to immerse in writing as I have never done before. It suffices to say that I juggle this publication with a Ph.D., academic writing, a family, and a 3-year old. It is immensely difficult to do this on a consistent basis, but the feedback I have received from some of you has given me enough strength and motivation to hang on and continue writing and helping as many of you as I can.
Roughly seven months ago marked a turning point for this publication. Do you remember the post on “Detecting Sarcasm with Deep Convolutional Neural Networks”? This post received over 50,000 views in the same week it was published. It was also shared in KDnuggets, one of the largest data science websites, and it became so popular that it earned Gold Nugget status.
I remember it very clearly. It was the first time I wrote something related to AI that received so much attention. Keep in mind that writing about AI is a tough business these days — the backlash the media has received is scary, to say the least. But we must be more responsible in our reporting of AI technologies and this is what we aim to do at dair.ai. The “sarcasm detection” article was the first time I felt like we could effectively discuss AI research in a different format that didn’t involve scary math equations and jargon. It was the start of something big, and I knew it right away! So I kept at it. You can see our progress on the front page: 1000 readers! Hundred of thousands of views, thousands of 👏, and tons of personal messages and feedback.
I have so much to share about the challenges, opportunities, and process of maintaining an AI publication, but I will share all this experience in due time as together we continue to explore ways to grow this publication.
What’s Next?
There is so much work ahead. I have been working on a free deep learning course and a free NLP book that will be integrated with dair.ai. There are also several research collaborations that you will see more of in the coming months. I have realized that dair.ai is more than just a publication. It continues to evolve and it could become anything our community decides. Plans are in order and only time will tell where we go from here. I am excited for our next year.
I just want to say a big “THANK YOU!” to all of you who have supported this publication. When you share a dair.ai article you are contributing to open education more so that you may take credit for.
If you are interested in volunteering as a writer for dair.ai, feel free to reach out to me at ellfae@gmail.com or send me a message on Twitter (@omarsar0). I am open to all your ideas. You can also follow the dair.ai Twitter page to receive notifications of upcoming updates and articles. To be honest, it desperately needs some ❤️.
Again, Thank you! đź‘Ť
Elvis, Founder and Editor @ dair.ai
