Startup

Is Gen AI helpful in making data-driven decisions?

Published

4 months ago

July 23, 2024

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Generative AI, or Gen AI, has taken organisations and customers by storm. While certain standard use cases of this new-age technology are much talked about, it is being used increasingly to make data-driven decisions.

However, while experiments with GenAI are in full flow, every organisation is impacted differently because of how this technology functions. Some believe it is starkly different from traditional AI.

To understand this better, expert panellists from the field of tech – Ashwin Sekar, Chief Product and Technology Officer, InCred Financial Services; Ramesh Kumar Katreddi, Vice President, Engineering, Jumbotail; and Kedar Gupte, Associate Director Engineering, Data Platforms, Myntra – were part of a session ‘Gen AI as a strategic lever for enabling data-driven decisions’ at YourStory’s Tech Leaders’ Conclave in Bengaluru on June 21. Rajesh Ramdas, Senior Director, Field Engineering, Databricks, moderated the panel discussion.

The impact of GenAI

Katreddi explained the functioning of Jumbotail, highlighting how the B2B marketplace serves as a retail platform where sellers can supply and kiranas can buy from them.

During this journey, from the customer’s point of view, these kiranas are not tech-savvy and communicate in vernacular languages. Most experiences designed for them are textual. However, GenAI’s multi-modality has opened up possibilities for them around vision and voice capabilities.

“This has also helped us join the bandwagon and experiment a lot more. We realised there are some click-to-rate (CTR) improvements through Generative AI,” Katreddi shared.

InCred, on the other hand, is a financial services platform that lends to small and medium businesses. Apart from standard use cases, it is using GenAI to onboard employees.

“We have been growing by 500-600 employees a year. There’s an internal bot to answer questions from employees. That’s helping us prevent tribal knowledge from getting locked up in people’s heads. Interestingly, we are also trying to detect fraud. It’s a hard problem to solve in a commercially viable manner with acceptable false positive rates,” Sekar said.

InCred has been experimenting with GenAI to synthetically create fraud lend datasets and improve its machine language (ML) models’ ability to recognise and block fraud.

There are different applications of GenAI on search personalisation in Myntra, particularly in the ecommerce piece. However, Gupte explained that the easiest ones to implement and those with the highest return on investment (ROI) are on developer productivity and optimisation.

“As a data platform, we would want democratisation and maximum users to leverage our platform. But that comes at the cost of suboptimal queries being written. Optimisation is hard but where GenAI can shine is it can go through the query plan and figure out the right optimisation strategies,” he added.

Dealing with challenges

One of the biggest challenges that most companies face is trusting the large language models (LLM). On this, Sekar believes there’s no replacing the hard work of sanity checks or validation of data quality. The idea is to create the lineage and definitions of the columns and tables to increase the output of LLMs.

Katreddi said his organisation is at the stage of training images and annotating them. Over time, he realised LLMs can be utilised to classify images that are required for annotation, ensuring data quality is not compromised.

On the subject of data democratisation, Gupte shared that it is an important architectural choice for the adoption of AI or GenAI. That’s because it is an LLM model that is efficient at figuring out pieces of information and the relationship between those pieces of information from a vast pool of data.

“It needs to be trained on that information and, in the data-driven context, what that information is. It is essentially the set of tables, what data it contains, what is the meaning, how is the data moving between these tables, what is the volume of data, etc. We call this the information graph,” Gupte said.

This also gives LLMs the ability to query different sources of data. This has helped create more use cases and eventually translated into higher revenue generation.

Experimentation to production

Sekar shared that InCred is still in the experimentation mode. However, there’s one lesson that will stand it in good stead. Initially, they were experimenting with different LLMs, but eventually realised good engineering principles are the key to success.

“Structure yourself for fast feedback loops and if you can speed those up, you can learn faster and get your LLM outputs working much faster,” he said.

There’s still time to reach large-scale production deployment of LLM, revealed Katreddi of Jumbotail. From a research perspective, he has been following processes for testing the correctness of LLM.

Citing an example, Gupta explained how there are several pages and interaction points in the ecommerce space. Getting the right model and recommendation is a function of how good the data is and how well trained the model is on the data.

“The story is also about having fine-tuned models for specific customer cohorts. There should be analysis continuously to get to the final KPIs. Lastly, the pipelines fuelling these models have to be very efficient and adhere to quality constraints,” Gupte concluded.

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Startup

Taming the restless ‘Monkey Mind’: 6 signs and calming tips

Published

29 mins ago

November 8, 2024

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Do you ever feel as if your thoughts are racing, jumping from one idea to the next without pause? This restless state of mind, commonly known as the “monkey mind,” can leave you feeling overwhelmed, distracted, and unable to focus. Imagine a monkey swinging from branch to branch—never still, always moving. The monkey mind does something similar, dragging your attention in multiple directions at once. In a world filled with constant notifications, endless tasks, and overstimulation, it’s no wonder our minds are often buzzing with a mix of unfinished thoughts, worries, and ideas.

Recognising and managing a monkey mind can be a game-changer for mental clarity, productivity, and peace. In this article, we’ll dive into six telltale signs of a monkey mind and explore proven strategies to calm it down and regain focus.

6 Telltale signs of a monkey mind

1. Constant overthinking

A classic sign of a monkey mind is constant overthinking. You may find yourself analysing every detail, reliving past conversations, or stressing over hypothetical situations that may never happen. This mental loop can keep you from moving forward or making decisions, trapping you in a cycle of what-ifs.

Try to channel overthinking into action by setting a time limit for worrying or planning, and then move on. Journaling can also help you process your thoughts and release them from your mind. Practicing mindfulness by focusing on what you’re doing right now can redirect your attention away from endless what-ifs.

2. Difficulty focusing on a task

If you find yourself switching tasks frequently, unable to concentrate on one thing for long, it’s a clear sign your mind may be restless. The monkey mind is easily distracted, often drawn to anything that promises novelty or instant gratification.

Implementing techniques like the Pomodoro Method—where you work for 25 minutes and then take a 5-minute break—can improve focus. Create a designated workspace, eliminate distractions, and try using noise-cancelling headphones or listening to concentration-friendly music to help you stay on task.

3. Procrastination and avoidance

A monkey mind often leads to procrastination, especially when faced with big or daunting tasks. The mind can become overwhelmed by the task’s complexity, prompting you to avoid it entirely and instead focus on smaller, less important activities.

Break tasks into smaller, manageable steps to make them feel less overwhelming. Set a specific goal for each work session, even if it’s just to complete a small portion. Reward yourself for each accomplishment, no matter how small, to keep your momentum going.

4. Heightened anxiety or stress

With the mind constantly jumping from one thought to another, stress and anxiety levels can increase. A monkey mind often dwells on worst-case scenarios and hypothetical fears, causing a continuous cycle of worry and tension.

Incorporate regular deep-breathing exercises or meditation into your day. Slow, mindful breathing can help activate the body’s relaxation response, lowering stress levels and bringing a sense of calm. For some, a quick physical reset—such as stretching or walking—can break the anxiety loop and help you feel grounded.

5. Trouble sleeping

If your mind feels like it’s in overdrive at night, it could be because of a monkey mind. Endless thoughts and worries can make it hard to fall asleep or stay asleep, leaving you feeling exhausted the next day.

Establish a calming bedtime routine to signal your mind and body that it’s time to wind down. Avoid screens at least an hour before bed, and consider listening to a guided meditation or calming sounds to lull your mind into relaxation mode. Journaling before bed can also help you clear your mind by putting your thoughts on paper.

6. Feeling constantly distracted

A monkey’s mind craves stimulation and often finds it challenging to stay present. You may find yourself constantly checking your phone, seeking out new content, or even daydreaming when you should be focused on a task at hand.

Practice “mindful breaks” during your day—short intervals where you put down your devices, observe your surroundings and ground yourself in the present. Limiting the number of things you try to multitask can help, too. Start by giving your full attention to one task, and slowly build your focus endurance from there.

Conclusion

Our minds are naturally curious, and having occasional restless thoughts is normal. However, when the monkey mind takes over, it can disrupt our peace, productivity, and well-being. Recognising the signs of a monkey mind and incorporating calming strategies—like mindfulness, structured work sessions, and relaxation techniques—can help you regain control over your mental landscape. The next time you find your mind swinging wildly, try one of these calming techniques to bring yourself back to a state of balance and clarity.

By making mindfulness a habit and addressing the monkey mind head-on, you’ll be able to cultivate a deeper sense of peace, focus, and contentment in your daily life.

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Startup

Swiggy IPO gets oversubscribed led by QIB bids

Published

2 hours ago

November 8, 2024

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Foodtech giant Swiggy IPO was oversubscribed 1.07 times by Friday afternoon, the third day of its book-building process.

Qualified Institutional buyers (QIBs), which typically invest on the last day to gauge overall market demand, came through for the company’s IPO, with the portion oversubscribed 1.52 times.

According to the BSE, non-institutional investors(NIIS) made bids for 22% of the allocated issue size, while retail investors subscribed to 97% of the portion.

The Sriharsha Majety-led company saw the quota reserved for employees being subscribed 1.38 times.

On the first and second days of the book-building process, Swiggy IPO was subscribed only 35% and 12%, respectively.

Swiggy has secured nearly Rs 5,085 crore (about $605 million) from anchor investors, including the life insurance and mutual fund divisions of HDFC, ICICI, and SBI. The anchor book attracted participation from over 75 major domestic mutual funds, along with international investors such as Astrone Capital, Fidelity, and BlackRock.

The Bengaluru-headquartered company, which competes with publicly listed Zomato and General Catalyst-backed Zepto, has set its IPO price band at Rs 371 – Rs 390 per equity share.

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OpenAI spent $10 million on this domain: Here’s why!

Published

3 hours ago

November 8, 2024

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Have you checked out X (formerly Twitter) lately? If you have, you might have come across an intriguing post by Sam Altman featuring a mysterious URL called “Chat.com”, with no caption. Curious? When you click on it, you’re taken straight to OpenAI’s groundbreaking tool, ChatGPT.

OpenAI has made headlines recently with a jaw-dropping move: they reportedly shelled out over $10 million for this domain! At first glance, this looks like a steep price tag in an era where many brands are trimming their budgets to stay lean.

So, what’s the story behind this hefty domain purchase? Let’s take a closer look at this!

Why OpenAI spent millions of dollars on a domain

This strategic move is driven by OpenAI’s mission to establish itself as a dominant force in the realm of AI-powered tools, particularly through its flagship product, ChatGPT.

In the tech world where innovation reigns supreme, securing a domain that perfectly aligns with the branding and functionality of its most popular service is a given. Today, ChatGPT has rapidly become a go-to AI tool used by millions for generating images, answering questions and offering assistance with content creation and even programming.

So, OpenAI’s purchase of chat.com is not just about owning a cool web address—it’s a calculated move to enhance its digital identity and ensure that the ChatGPT experience remains tied to its brand as it expands its offerings.

The bigger picture: OpenAI and HubSpot

In a surprising turn of events, the tech world is buzzing over OpenAI’s recent million-dollar domain acquisition, leaving many to wonder about its intriguing backstory. The domain in question, chat.com, has quite the history—it was initially registered way back in September 1996.

Fast forward to 2023, and it found a new owner in Dharmesh Shah, the co-founder and CTO of the widely popular CRM platform HubSpot, who purchased it for a staggering $15.5 million! But the plot thickens!

Just a few months later, in March, Dharmesh dropped a bombshell: he sold chat.com to an anonymous buyer for an undisclosed sum, which has now been confirmed to be OpenAI. While Sam Altman has remained tight-lipped about the specifics of the acquisition, reports from The Verge suggest that Dharmesh may have pocketed more than $15 million from the sale.

This hefty investment in chat.com is more than just a flashy purchase; it’s part of OpenAI’s strategic vision. Owning a domain that’s not only memorable but also inspires trust is crucial for establishing credibility and attracting customers in this competitive landscape.

Chat.com is now ChatGPT’s new destination

Spending more than $10 million on a domain might seem extravagant, but for OpenAI, this investment is a strategic move aimed at building a more unified, and recognisable brand. With chat.com, the company positions itself at the centre of the rapidly growing AI-powered market. As OpenAI continues to innovate, this domain acquisition will likely prove to be one of the company’s most crucial investments in securing its place at the top of the AI industry.

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