The Future of SaaS, AI Programming and Robots Taking Your Job — An Interview with Dennis R. Mortensen

In this episode of Business Systems Explored, we speak to Dennis R. Mortensen, the creator of x.ai about his AI Amy, SaaS product retention, providing the best UX possible, and much more.

This episode of Business Systems Explored is a real treat for developers or anyone interested in the techy systems behind SaaS businesses. Dennis R. Mortensen — the founder of x.ai — talks to us about how conversational interfaces will change SaaS and how dashboards will die.

Find out how x.ai developers solve the problems you get with natural language processing, and why Dennis isn’t going to bother building a Slack integration.

Discussing everything from AI programming to philosophical moral dilemmas, this episode is well worth a listen, if only for Dennis’ eye-opening predictions about how AI will change the job market.

Links to listen

• Listen on iTunes (iOS)
• Stitcher (Android)
• Listen on Business Systems Explored website

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Quote to Tweet

“Make an AI so good that even if you could hire a human to do it, you wouldn’t want to” (tweet this)

Show notes

• How x.ai created a humanized AI called Amy, and what she’s like
• The geeky Easter eggs inside x.ai’s coding
• How to add character to an app
• Designing conversational software with empathy
• The techniques Dennis uses to humanize an AI (and the brand new processes he needed to invent)
• The smart way to optimize your SaaS product’s retention
• When everyone gets your company name wrong…
• AI assistants — what they’ll be able to do
• The future of SaaS user experience, and what to get started on to be there for when it breaks out
• Developing natural language interfaces to provide the best UX possible
• Why x.ai is going after a particular vertical
• Using Amy for sales and recruitment
• The most common use cases for x.ai
• The easiest people to persuade to buy scheduling products
• What Dennis considers to be ‘scheduling Nirvana’
• Why no company can run a totally accurate software system
• Business lessons learned from SpaceX
• Designing algorithms to safeguard your business and your customers
• What on earth the Trolley Cart problem is, and why it applies to business
• On not going after a Slack integration, no matter how sexy that might be
• Why Slack is an unlikely future channel for meeting scheduling
• When you have to go AI because traditional software won’t do the job
• The situations conversational UIs work perfectly, and where dashboards are truly awful
• Areas and jobs where AIs can replace humans
• Why AI isn’t robbing humans of their jobs
• How AI is transforming the future of recruitment

Show links

TOOLS AND MENTIONS

• x.ai — an AI meeting scheduler for email x.ai
• Trolley Cart Problem: http://philosophywalk.com/solution-trolley-problem/
• Slack: https://slack.com
• Calendly: https://calendly.com/
• Doodle: https://doodle.com/
• Quartz: https://qz.com
• McKinsey — Where machines could replace humans—and where they can’t (yet): http://www.mckinsey.com/business-functions/business-technology/our-insights/where-machines-could-replace-humans-and-where-they-cant-yet

CONTACT

• Dennis Mortensen on Twitter: https://twitter.com/dennismortensen