AI Technologies and Development: An Interview with Vitaly Timoshenko

Tell us about your journey to becoming the owner of a startup that now operates in the field of modern technologies?

My journey to creating a startup in the field of modern technologies began in 1996 when I signed up weekly at the British consulate to get acquainted with the internet. Seeing the global opportunities that the internet could provide, I was inspired to write my thesis on the legal regulation of e-commerce.

In 1998, I launched the first online store in Ukraine, and by 2000 my business registered more than 20,000 sales, bringing us a gross income of $36k. However, despite the initial success, due to my inexperience and lack of knowledge, I lost this business.

After this unsuccessful experience, I decided to look for new opportunities and began creating various internet businesses, from online stores to software developments. Over the next 10 years, I created 23 companies but felt that I was stretching myself too thin between them.

A difficult period in my life led me to a monastery, where a monk advised me to focus on one direction. This advice gave me clarity, and I decided to combine my passion for education and the internet. This led me to choose the EdTech industry. Now, for more than 10 years, I have been creating projects in the field of educational technologies, and this has become my true passion and mission.

What inspired you to create your startup and what were the first steps you took to implement it? Where did it all start?

My inspiration to create a startup was based on a strong desire to help people develop and discover their potential. We started with creating educational projects, aiming to change the way people learn and develop. Our first major project with Tony Robbins and Challenge.me allowed us to understand the scale of opportunities in this field. By creating a platform that helped more than 93% of participants achieve tremendous results, we realized that we could reform the learning process.

Our first product was an LMS platform for organizing training with elements of gamification. However, understanding the problems of the American market, related to the lack of time people have to create educational content, we decided to provide a solution to this problem. This led to the creation of AiContentBuilder, a tool that radically reduced the time for creating educational material from 160 hours to just one hour. As a result, in a short time, we attracted more than 1600 clients who created over 1800 courses..

How did you come to the topic of artificial intelligence?

My passion for technology began 20 years ago, when I dreamed of a world where technology would actively serve people and simplify their daily lives. This dream emerged in me as a teenager. I thought about how routine tasks could be automated and performed by technology, giving people more time for creativity and personal development.

However, the real application of artificial intelligence in my work only started a few years ago. In developing our LMS platform, we decided to incorporate a personal AI assistant for each student. This was our first step towards creating solutions based on artificial intelligence. The goal was to create a virtual assistant that could motivate, inspire, and inform students throughout their learning journey.

Later, realizing the complexities associated with creating educational content, we focused on developing an AI content builder. This is a tool that uses artificial intelligence to create educational content, including videos, tests, and even AI avatars. This breakthrough in AI allowed us to optimize the learning process to the fullest.

Currently, thanks to AI, we can analyze how content affects learners and optimize and improve our educational model based on this data. Our experts play a significant role in training and improving our AI model.

Thus, artificial intelligence has become an integral part of our activities, helping us realize a long-held dream of technology serving humanity.

How do you implement artificial intelligence technologies in managing and developing your startup?

• We use AI more to create our product than to manage our team, for example:
• Generating training courses, creating a training program plan, dividing into modules and lessons,
• Generating educational text: can be created from client materials or entirely generated using AI,
• Using AI avatars: choosing from a catalog of ready-made avatars or creating a personal avatar based on user video,
• Tests and questionnaires: generating quizzes, surveys, and tests based on text using AI,
• Content localization: creating educational content in more than 60 languages using AI,
• Converting existing materials: transforming various formats (audio, video, text) into interactive educational content, etc.

What specific methods or practices do you offer your clients for their personal and professional development in the context of the rapidly changing world of AI?

We apply the following methods and practices for our clients for personal and professional development using AI:

• Personal Development Path

Providing an individual learning trajectory for each client.
Periodic testing and competency assessment to identify knowledge gaps.
Automatically creating a personal development path based on test results and available materials in the corporate university.

• Personalizing the Learning Process

Adapting materials and methods to the specific employee. Taking into account individual characteristics and the employee’s development stage.

• Gamification and Motivation

Introducing gaming elements to stimulate interest in learning.
Automatically selecting the most effective motivation method based on the employee’s behavior on the platform.
This approach allows us to adapt the learning process to the needs of each client as efficiently as possible, making it more productive and motivating.

What specific changes in the world of AI have you noticed during your career?

1. Education Became Accessible to All.

Thanks to artificial intelligence, even companies without specialized training teams can now educate their employees. This has opened doors for many who previously couldn’t afford it.

2. Opportunities for Small and Medium Businesses.
Now, about 28 million companies in the USA can create their own training programs, which were previously available only to large corporations.

3. Working in the Blue Ocean.
Artificial intelligence has opened up a path to a market with high potential and minimal competition.

How will AI develop people?

Artificial Intelligence (AI) has the potential to radically change how people learn and develop. With its help, learning can become much more individualized, personalized, and purposeful. Here’s how it can happen:

1. Analyzing Learning Styles:

AI can determine the best learning style for a specific person by analyzing their previous actions, responses to questions, learning speed, and other factors.

2. Adaptive Content:
Based on user data, AI can automatically adapt and customize educational content, making it more relevant and interesting for each student.

3. Individual Learning Paths:
Instead of following a predefined plan, students will be able to move along their own individual paths, choosing topics and materials that are most interesting and necessary for them.

4. Continuous Feedback:
With AI, students will receive instant feedback on their progress, allowing them to quickly adjust their learning approach.

5. Personalized Online Courses:
Based on the unique needs, knowledge, and interests of each individual, AI will be able to create fully personalized turnkey online courses.

Thus, with the development of AI, education and training will become much more personal and purposeful, allowing each individual to fully realize their potential.

КWhat risks and advantages do you see in the use of AI?

Advantages

Work Efficiency: Artificial Intelligence can help employees automate routine tasks, allowing them to focus on more complex and creative aspects of their work.

Personal Assistants: Digital assistants, created using AI, can individually adapt to the needs of each person, improving their productivity and comfort at work.

Time Liberation: Employees using AI in their work can devote more time to their professional and personal development thanks to the time saved on routine tasks.

Risks

Job Displacement: There are concerns that digital workers could completely replace some professions, leading to job loss.

Concentration of Wealth: If the results of AI work accumulate with companies, this could lead to the intensification of economic imbalances.

Legal Regulation: It is important to establish a legislative framework that ensures AI is used in the interest of workers, not against them.

In conclusion, I believe that to maximize the benefits and minimize the risks of using artificial intelligence, it is important to have sound legal regulation and transparent corporate ethics. We should strive to create a system where AI serves the interests of humans, not replaces them.