Brian and Sarah welcome David Hojah, the founder and CEO of Parrots, along with CBO Erin Janklow. Their startup focuses on medical assistive AI for patients with ALS and Parkinson’s disease, using a smart assistant called Polly, which is designed to speed up communication loops and enable people experiencing cognitive problems to engage with their caregivers and the world around them.
That interview, this week’s news on OpenAI and the end of the actors strike, and the most challenging round of "Two truths and l’AI" yet are all in this episode of "The AI Artifacts Podcast."
Timestamps for this episode:
[0:00] Intro
[0:29] This week’s biggest AI news
[0:44] OpenAI’s developer day
[2:56] Overview of announcements from OpenAI
[7:29] The end of the Hollywood actors strike
[15:30] "Two truths and l’AI"
[21:38] Interview with Parrots founder/CEO David Hojah and CBO Erin Janklow
[23:12] David Hojah’s background
[25:22] Origin: Why the startup is called Parrots
[26:25] How the technology at Parrots works
[28:25] What Parrots does
[30:08] The Polly smart assistant
[31:09] Use cases for patients and caregivers that Parrots targets
[35:20] Focus on ALS patients and Parkinson’s Disease, looking ahead at cerebral palsy, muscular dystrophy, and Alzheimer's disease cases
[36:40] Early milestones
[41:17] Perspective on navigating and preparing for an evolving regulatory environment
[46:39] Approaches to data collection and feedback
[49:32] Next goals for Parrots
[50:37] Currently raising a seed round, looking for new patients and partnerships
[51:29] Guest contact info: david@flyparrots.com and erin@flyparrots.com
Links for topics referenced in this episode:
Parrots, Inc. website: https://www.flyparrots.com/
OpenAI’s developer day (TechCrunch): https://techcrunch.com/2023/11/06/everything-announced-at-openais-first-developer-event
OpenAI announces custom GPT versions (Axios): https://www.axios.com/2023/11/06/open-ai-dev-day-chatgpt-custom
The Hollywood actors strike ends (Wired): https://www.wired.com/story/hollywood-actors-strike-ends-ai-streaming/
AI’s role in the actors strike’s final week (The Hollywood Reporter): https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/business/business-news/sag-aftra-ai-protections-for-high-earning-members-sticking-point-1235638247/
Why using an AI meeting surrogate could be a mistake (Fortune): https://fortune.com/2023/11/10/ai-bot-zoom-meetings-power-move-management-mistake-office-culture/
British royal astronomer Lord Marin Rees suggests AI aliens could appear (Futurism): https://futurism.com/the-byte/uk-royal-astronomer-ai-aliens
Study suggested Agatha Christie may have had Alzheimer's disease, based on textual analysis (The Guardian): https://www.theguardian.com/books/2009/apr/03/agatha-christie-alzheimers-research
Music used in this podcast comes from "Vanishing Horizon" by Jason Shaw and is licensed under an Attribution 3.0 United States License.
Episode 3: Guests David Hojah and Erin Janklow of Parrots, AI for patients with cognitive issues