GARY QUACKENBUSH
FOR NORTH BAY BUSINESS JOURNAL
October 22, 2024
Original post: https://www.northbaybusinessjournal.com/article/business/generative-ai-marin-county/?artslide=0
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Beyond Google, Siri, Alexa and other digital personal assistants like them, artificial intelligence technology is transforming corporate learning and knowledge-sharing.
Siri, Alexa and Google are considered traditional AI, tasked with performing a specific function.
As AI evolves, companies are exploring the use of Generative AI, artificial intelligence that can create something new - text, images, video - such as what ChatGPT does.
With over 70,000 AI companies worldwide (including 17,500 U.S. firms), more businesses are exploring or have already embraced the benefits of internal AI solutions for employees.
That’s where Sausalito-based Sageful AI, Inc. and partner PairUp come in.
The two companies are reshaping how employee learning occurs during realistic, natural language Q&A text exchanges with a digital coach.
Sageful AI
“Not since the dawn of the internet has new AI technology held the promise of redefining learning transfer,” according to Michael Papay, cofounder and CEO of Sageful AI, Inc., who along with CTO and cofounder Drew Batshaw, is charting a course for corporate knowledge sharing.
The company’s AI’s solution became commercially available in late May of this year. . The firm is partnering with five training companies looking to customize their products for specific applications using this platform.
“This is a game-changer for the training industry,” said Lance Tyson, CEO and founder of the Tyson Group, a top-20 training provider. ”We are not just transferring knowledge, but ensuring it is applied effectively in real world scenarios.”
The Sageful’s learning coach, called “Sagey,” uses a natural conversational style while offering real-time support through Slack, Teams or text messaging. Tyson said.
He added that what Sageful AI offers goes beyond online, Zoom and e-learning by helping employees foster behavioral change and obtain guidance aligned with their company’s objectives.
“Our AI-driven coach ensures that learning is not just an event but a continuous process that directly impacts performance outcomes by providing personalized, real-time support and guidance,” Papay added.
According to global talent market analyst Josh Bersin, corporate learning is a $340 billion industry averaging over $1,500 per employee per year.
Unlike traditional training, Sageful AI enhances learning by integrating it into learners’ workflow as employees go about daily tasks. The company developed a comprehensive system to measure the effectiveness of training and creates reports detailing results to demonstrate predictable performance gains.
“Ongoing context-specific sales training tops the list of requested AI coaching solutions. Other business categories include leadership development, corporate culture (including safety and thought leadership) along with organizational change guidance,” Papay said.
PairUp
Cofounded by CEO Emily Harburg, Ph.D., and CTO Andy Garvin in January 2022, PairUp uses AI to accelerate workplace knowledge sharing. The software company is leveraging generative AI to boost employee connectivity by linking them with people inside their own organizations who can supply answers.
PairUp provides a streamlined and scalable way for employees to access up-to-date information by increasing personal interactions with emphasis on privacy, security and the ability to track performance.
“We recognize that the most important company knowledge often lives within people, not documentation.”
“The first version of PairUp was a mentorship platform. We then we pivoted toward our new AI-powered plus human knowledge search platform last year based on customer feedback,” Harburg said. “To date we have served more than 25 large and small companies through a combination of our two versions.”
She outlined three key PairUp’s platform benefits: Helping to retain knowledge, providing support from subject-matter experts, and enhancing cross-team collaboration.
Garvin said, “ChatGPT’s meteoric rise highlighted early on that enterprises would adopt AI for documented knowledge searches. We are pushing AI boundaries to unlock the unlimited well of information embedded in peoples’ minds.”
He observed that in a short time period, Retrieval-Augmented Generation has changed the way people access information. However, PairUp is pioneering the next evolution of AI-powered workplace knowledge management software with Human-Augmented Generation.
By prioritizing human expertise, PairUp ensures that even after an employee leaves or changes roles, the day-to-day information is still accessible, saving time and money when onboarding new team members.