Tech Talk: How Ericsson Uses Digital Humans To Drive Growth and Innovation
“Digital humans have arrived as an enabling technology for everyday human interaction.” In this Tech Talk, Daniel Alexus and Parth Radia from Ericsson One, share a masterclass on how digital humans have enabled connected experiences.
As Ericsson One’s leaders, Daniel Alexus and Parth Radia reflect upon how digital human technologies are powering authenticity and intent of conversation, they tell Spiceworks News & Insights’ Technology Editor, Neha Kulkarni. With advanced AI algorithms Ericsson has made it a point to optimize for diversity in the data collection and training procedures from the ground up, they inform.
From bridging the gap between demand and supply of tech talent to driving new business growth and innovation, in this edition of Tech Talk, Daniel and Parth share a masterclass on how digital humans have enabled connected experiences. They also talk about the tech trends that are most likely to directly shape the future of digital humans.
Key Points:
- Digital human technologies are typically the product of AI algorithms trained on petabytes
- Digital humans have arrived as an enabling technology for everyday human interaction
- Diverse data ensures connected experiences powered by digital humans are not compromised
Here are the edited excerpts from our exclusive interview with Daniel Alexus, Founder and Global Head of Ericsson ONE and Parth Radia, Founder, CTO and CPO, Ericsson Digital Human Platform:
Daniel Alexus, Founder and Global Head of Ericsson ONE
Parth Radia, Founder, CTO and CPO, Ericsson Digital Human Platform
SWNI: During and post-pandemic, the technology industry was faced with one of its most critical challenges – that is tech talent crunch. How did Ericsson ONE view this challenge?
Daniel: When faced with the tech talent crunch, Ericsson ONE viewed this as not a challenge – but an opportunity to remain competitive. Pioneering new business ideas and offering a vehicle for intrapreneurs to contribute beyond the traditional ecosystem of Ericsson’s expertise has been a driver for innovation, enabled by giving employees resources to create new growth businesses based on highly successful and deployable technology. With the assistance of a diverse team of experts providing guidance and coaching every step of the way, not only can employees experience growth in their careers, but contribute significantly to the growth of the company and the technology landscape.
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SWNI: To create highly successful ventures and become CEO of their own company, technology startups need to secure the right talent to accelerate their growth. What support and coaching advice does Ericsson ONE provide to technology startups to bridge the gap between demand and supply of tech talent?
Daniel and Parth: Intrapreneurs at Ericsson contributing to the platform go through several stages. Once the ideas are initially presented, they are reviewed by a highly skilled team who determine if the idea will move on to the next stage of being implemented into Ericsson’s portfolio.
“Leveraging internal tech talent is a key to our business growth that will ultimately benefit our customers and our employees’ professional growth. Globally more than 90% of all startups fail and almost half on account of products created for problems that don’t exist.”
Once the innovative idea reaches this level of the process, the intrapreneurs will pitch stakeholders at Ericsson to solidify the investment in the idea presented. Ericsson’s intrapreneurs have support throughout all stages of innovation including training, resources, funding, and early adopter customers that will aid in launching the venture which scales rapidly.
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SWNI: Let’s talk about digital humans. Digital humans have been long deployed as an extension of conversational AI in healthcare and customer support industries. What factors propelled you to use digital humans to drive new business growth and innovation more broadly across industries?
Daniel and Parth: As we have seen the world become increasingly connected through continued globalization on an unprecedented scale, digital humans have arrived as an enabling technology for everyday human interaction. The pandemic has challenged us to adapt our ways of working to suit dynamic, remote-native contexts, inspiring a need to be more “present” in increasingly diverse (often virtual) situations.
“In this climate, digital humans are an asset for a variety of industries, as they supercharge our ability to communicate and collaborate. Imagine, for example, a world in which you could automagically speak in any language on a video call. Or perhaps immerse yourself in a meeting on the other side of the planet in photorealistic 3D.”
Both worlds are made possible by digital humans. The Ericsson Digital Human Platform takes a step forward into the exciting future of the connected, human experience, helping unlock a serviceable obtainable market expected to reach USD 1 billion by 2027.
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SWNI: A good deal of communication is non-verbal. How do digital humans ensure accurate and effective delivery of these important aspects of conversation?
Daniel and Parth: Industry-leading digital human technologies are typically the product of AI algorithms trained on petabytes of high-quality, 3D human data—a visual genome (of sorts) of the human population. Such vast, diverse data helps ensure connected experiences powered by digital humans are not compromised with respect to the authenticity and intent of conversation.
SWNI: There is an ongoing debate over crucial aspects of AI performance, including bias, ethics, and overall control. How does Ericsson ONE’s digital human platform work toward an unbiased framework?
Daniel and Parth: In collecting one of the world’s first and only 3D human datasets in a special-purpose capture studio, we have made it a point to optimize for diversity in our data collection and training procedures from the ground up. While the platform is still in its infancy, it has the raw data and tools to optimize for transparency and ethical considerations (including bias).
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SWNI: With the rising adoption of large AI models and XR in enterprises, which trends are most likely to directly shape the future of digital humans?
Daniel and Parth: In the coming years, the lines between large virtual worlds (likely created or enhanced with the help of large, generative AI models) and the real one will begin to blur.
“Digital humans will be our passports to these various mixed realities, enhancing our ability to contribute in new and interesting ways to an increasingly borderless climate.”
About Daniel Alexus
Founder & Global Head of Ericsson ONE – award winning (Corporate Super Stars 2022) – intrapreneurship and venture builder/studio, which seeks to help internal entrepreneurs / intrapreneurs and innovators test and scale their ideas to become Ericsson’s next growth bets. Prior to Ericsson ONE, Alexus has a variety of GM and strategy roles within Ericsson, including serving as General Manager for MetraTech, which was a Boston-based software company acquired by Ericsson in 2014.
Parth Radia is a product and technology leader driving innovation at the intersection of AI and everyday life. During his time in premier, Fortune 500 innovation centers across a variety of roles (applied research, engineering, product, management), Parth has proven a unique, holistic ability to identify, spark and shepherd game-changing ideas from initial concept and invention to product. He is currently the founder and chief of Ericsson’s digital human efforts, seeking to enable the next generation of connected experiences.
About Ericsson One
Ericsson ONE is an internal accelerator for Ericsson employees with pioneering new business ideas. The program gives talented people the chance to develop these ideas and build successful ventures beyond Ericsson’s core business. By leveraging Ericsson’s global scale, technology, relationships and expertise they help make the startups a success
Tech Talk is an interview series that features notable CTOs and senior technology executives from around the world. Join us as we talk to these technology and IT leaders who share their insights and research on data, analytics, and emerging technologies. If you are a tech expert and wish to share your thoughts, write to neha.pradhan@swzd.com
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