Babak Hodjat on building smarter, more helpful AI

06/12/24 • 36 min

For our fourth episode of Working Smarter we’re talking to Babak Hodjat, the chief technology officer for AI research at Cognizant. If you’ve ever used Apple’s smart assistant Siri, then you’re almost certainly familiar with his work.

Hodjat has been doing AI research for nearly four decades, and if there’s one thread that runs through his career, it’s how to make working with digital agents feel as natural or effortless as working with a colleague. At Cognizant—an IT services and consulting firm—Hodjat’s team puts this work into practice by helping other companies integrate AI tools into their workflows.

Hear Hodjat discuss why it’s still so hard for machines to understand exactly what we want them to do, the problems he’s helping his customers solve, and how the latest generation of workplace assistants can help us make better decisions and improve the way we do our jobs.

Show notes:

Learn more about Cognizant's Advanced AI Lab
Links to Hodjat’s research
The Perceptive Assistant that Learns (PAL)
The Cognitive Assistant that Learns and Organizes (CALO)

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Working Smarter is a new podcast from Dropbox about how AI is changing the way we work and get stuff done.

You can listen to more episodes of Working Smarter on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, YouTube Music, Amazon Music, or wherever you get your podcasts. To read more stories and past interviews, visit workingsmarter.ai

This show would not be possible without the talented team at Cosmic Standard, namely: our producers Samiah Adams and Aja Simpson, technical director Jacob Winik, and executive producer Eliza Smith. Special thanks to Benjy Baptiste for production assistance, our marketing and PR consultant Meggan Ellingboe, and our illustrators, Fanny Luor and Justin Tran. Our theme song was created by Doug Stuart. Working Smarter is hosted by Matthew Braga.

Thanks for listening!

Show notes:

Learn more about Cognizant's Advanced AI Lab
Links to Hodjat’s research
The Perceptive Assistant that Learns (PAL)
The Cognitive Assistant that Learns and Organizes (CALO)

~ ~ ~

Working Smarter is a new podcast from Dropbox about how AI is changing the way we work and get stuff done.

Thanks for listening!

Previous Episode

May Habib on spending more time in flow

For our third episode of Working Smarter we’re talking to May Habib, the co-founder and CEO of Writer, a generative AI platform for businesses. Writer helps streamline the writing parts of people’s workflows, so they can get to the “thinking part” of their jobs more quickly.

For Habib, AI isn’t just about automating mundane or repetitive tasks, but a way to amplify the talent and intelligence of a team. There are some types of writing, such as an RFP or a JIRA ticket, where it doesn’t always make sense to start from scratch. By using AI to learn how a company works and the knowledge a person needs to do their job, Writer aims to make those kinds of writing-related tasks faster, easier, and more efficient.

Hear Habib talk about how AI-powered tools like Writer can help increase the amount of time you spend in flow, supercharge your existing workflows, and create more space for insight, creativity, and inspiration in your job.

Show notes:

To learn more about Writer, visit writer.com
Follow May Habib on LinkedIn

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Working Smarter is a new podcast from Dropbox about how AI is changing the way we work and get stuff done.

Thanks for listening!

Next Episode

Natalie Kupperman on why we still need humans in the loop

For our fifth episode of Working Smarter we’re talking to sports scientist Natalie Kupperman. She’s an assistant professor of data science at the University of Virginia where she studies the use of biometrics, wearables, and AI-powered tools for athlete monitoring in sport.

Whether it’s a machine learning algorithm trained on video footage from practice, a force plate sensor in the weight room floor—or some combination of the two—Kupperman is interested in how new technology can help reduce the risk of injury and optimize athletic performance for professional athletes and amateurs alike.

Hear Kupperman discuss a day in the life of a sports scientist, the importance of getting all of your data into one place, and why there will always be some injuries we can’t prevent.

Show notes:

To learn more about Natalie and her work, you can visit her website or her University of Virginia faculty page
Find Natalie’s research on Google Scholar

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Working Smarter is a new podcast from Dropbox about how AI is changing the way we work and get stuff done.

Thanks for listening!