In this talk, I discuss my career path and how I have changed my career as a software engineer, to become an AI research scientist. After my PhD and almost seven wonderful years in academia, I moved into the startup world, and soon after created my own - Sentient Machines. In this talk, I summarised challenges from managing and building successful career and teams, to being managed, and most importantly, investing in learning and self-development as a way to enrich not only your own experience of life, but also the life of those around you.

1. 1
E m p o w e r i n g S m a r t e r C o m m u n i c a t i o n
E m p o w e r i n g S m a r t e r C o m m u n i c a t i o n
STRICTLY PRIVATE AND CONFIDENTIAL

2. 2
E m p o w e r i n g S m a r t e r C o m m u n i c a t i o n
Danica Damljanovic, PhD
CEO and Founder
Sentient Machines
From a Scientist to an Entrepreneur:
My Journey into Artificial Intelligence
5th March 2020.
Women’s International Day At Cleo AI:
https://www.meetcleo.com/

3. 3
E m p o w e r i n g S m a r t e r C o m m u n i c a t i o n
3
New Era of Emphatic
Human Machine
Collaboration
AI used to positively assist
humans is stronger than AI and
humans working independently.

4. 4
E m p o w e r i n g S m a r t e r C o m m u n i c a t i o n
My Journey to Here
Software engineer Research Management
Research and
Management Entrepreneurship
Publications Book PhD Teaching

5. 5
E m p o w e r i n g S m a r t e r C o m m u n i c a t i o n
What vegetable prevents osteoporosis?
kale is a vegetable (1)
kale contains calcium (2)
calcium prevents osteoporosis (3)
FREyA* answering a question:
*Freya was my PhD project, and is open-source. Learn more here.

6. 6
E m p o w e r i n g S m a r t e r C o m m u n i c a t i o n
6
E m p o w e r i n g S m a r t e r C o m m u n i c a t i o n
At Sentient Machines we are on a mission
to help humans become better
communicators

7. 7
E m p o w e r i n g S m a r t e r C o m m u n i c a t i o n
We analyse real-time customer and
employee interactions to transform
business outcomes
using our leading real-AI speech and emotion analytics
platform

8. 8
E m p o w e r i n g S m a r t e r C o m m u n i c a t i o n
25+ Unique
Algorithms
Each performing a distinctive
function across all data
before presenting the results
on to our user-friendly
dashboard
Sentient Analytics
1
2
QA and
Compliance
Locate vulnerable customers and
highlight non-compliance
Seamless
Low Cost
Integration
Instantly transcribe and
analyse 100% of customer
interactions
3
CX Insights
Detect emerging trends
Empower Agents
Understand what is being said, how
it’s being said, and WHY it’s being
said
Because every conversation matters

9. 9
E m p o w e r i n g S m a r t e r C o m m u n i c a t i o n
Biggest challenges

10. 10
E m p o w e r i n g S m a r t e r C o m m u n i c a t i o n
1. Communication

11. 11
E m p o w e r i n g S m a r t e r C o m m u n i c a t i o n

12. 12
E m p o w e r i n g S m a r t e r C o m m u n i c a t i o n
Keep your focus.
Emotion can be a distraction.

13. 13
E m p o w e r i n g S m a r t e r C o m m u n i c a t i o n
“Rope Trick”: Seek to
understand the other
person’s perspective
and act as one.

14. 14
E m p o w e r i n g S m a r t e r C o m m u n i c a t i o n
“The single biggest problem in communication is the illusion that it has
taken place. “
George Bernard Shaw

15. 15
E m p o w e r i n g S m a r t e r C o m m u n i c a t i o n
Have a mentor.

16. 16
E m p o w e r i n g S m a r t e r C o m m u n i c a t i o n
Asking for help is great. Offering help even greater.
“The meaning of life is to find your gift. The
purpose of life is to give it away.”
– Pablo Picasso

17. 17
E m p o w e r i n g S m a r t e r C o m m u n i c a t i o n
Life is a pitch.

18. 18
E m p o w e r i n g S m a r t e r C o m m u n i c a t i o n
Mens sana in corpore sano.
“How fast you can run up a hill is very
strongly correlated with brain speed and
cognitive shifting ability.”
– Dr. Steven Masley *
*Taken from Miracle Morning for Entrepreneurs book by Hal Elrod and Cameron Herold

19. 19
E m p o w e r i n g S m a r t e r C o m m u n i c a t i o n
Don’t put all eggs in one
basket.

20. 20
E m p o w e r i n g S m a r t e r C o m m u n i c a t i o n
2. Challenging status quo.

21. 21
E m p o w e r i n g S m a r t e r C o m m u n i c a t i o n

22. 22
E m p o w e r i n g S m a r t e r C o m m u n i c a t i o n
● 36% are challengers
● 60% of people follow the orders
● 4% are sociopaths

23. 23
E m p o w e r i n g S m a r t e r C o m m u n i c a t i o n
Silence and self-reflection.
“Everyone thinks of changing the
world, but no one thinks of changing
himself.”
– Leo Tolstoy

24. 24
E m p o w e r i n g S m a r t e r C o m m u n i c a t i o n
3. Protecting your passion.

25. 25
E m p o w e r i n g S m a r t e r C o m m u n i c a t i o n
Understand your core values
and don’t compromise.

26. 26
E m p o w e r i n g S m a r t e r C o m m u n i c a t i o n
Surround yourself
with people and
things that inspire
you.
“Don’t doubt your vibe,
Because it’s true
Don’t doubt your vibe
Because it’s you”
(listen on YouTube)

27. E m p o w e r i n g S m a r t e r C o m m u n i c a t i o n
Dr Danica Damljanovic
CEO and Founder
E-Mail: danica@sentientmachines.tech
@dancheeee
@sentient_tech
• Entrepreneur First
• Innovate UK
• Dr Karl Moritz Hermann, University of
Oxford, Deepmind/Google
• Google Launchpad
• Phil Moehring and Andy Chung, AngelList
• Daniel Korski and Alex de Carvalho
(public.io)
• Nadav Rosenberg, EF
Backed by:
Helping humans become better communicators
www.sentientmachines.tech