Michael Rosinski, President and Chief Executive Officer of Astoria Software, discusses innovation, computing, and how content—and those who produce it—will be impacted by artificial intelligence.

1. Posted July 14, 2016—Today we discuss the future of content with Michael Rosinski, President and Chief
Executive Officer of Astoria Software, a cloud-based, component content management system (CCMS).
Rosinski, a veteran of the content management space, talks with Scott Abel, The Content Wrangler, about
innovation, computing, and how content—and those who produce it—will be impacted by artificial intelligence.
TCW: Michael, for someone surrounded by technology 24/7, I’d wager you see
a lot of proclamations about the next big thing. Help us cut through the hype.
As a technology CEO, what do you think is the most exciting innovation in the
field of content?
MR: Great question. I believe the most exciting innovation in the content world is
cognitive computing. Why? Because traditional computing technology, while impressive,
is also not in step with current demanding business practices. Today’s computer
software can tabulate and calculate, store, manage, and deliver files faster than human
beings. And, while computers are much better at remembering details, they can’t
provide many of the content capabilities needed by today’s businesses. However, that is
about to change.
Cognitive computing, according to the folks at TechTarget, is “…the simulation of human thought processes in a
computerized model. Cognitive computing involves self-learning systems that use data mining, pattern
recognition and natural language processing (NLP) to mimic the way the human brain works. The goal of
cognitive computing is to create automated IT systems that are capable of solving problems without requiring
human assistance.”
Cognitive computing will empower computers to learn, comprehend, adapt, and interact with content in ways
we could only imagine until recently. Cognitive content solutions will provide business with amazing
differentiating capabilities—digital differentiators that will allow businesses to gain insights and intelligence that
are currently hidden in our content. That’s why I believe cognitive computing will play a starring role in the
future of content.
TCW: That is exciting. And, you’re right, cognitive computing
presents new opportunities for cities and governments, medicine
and healthcare. And, it opens the door to innovation in energy
production, insurance, banking and finance, business
intelligence and analytics, and marketing. And it will create new
jobs in every single business sector. Companies will begin
expanding their research and development efforts to include
cognitive computing in hopes of identifying potential competitive
differentiators. The opportunities are almost endless. Why do
you think a new approach to solving problems with content and
computers is needed?
MR: Traditional computing systems like the ones we use today rely on us to know what we want them to do
ahead of time. We must program them in advance to do the work we require of them. Traditional computing
architectures designed in this way are troublesome. They can lead to what’s known as the von Neumann
bottleneck, a processing-heavy approach in which discrete processing tasks are completed linearly, one at a
time. This situation makes it difficult for us to create scalable solutions to big data—and big content—problems.
And, it prevents us from uncovering hidden value in our content assets.
Cognitive computing and machine learning technologies are designed to help us overcome issues of scale. And,
they can help us discover solutions to problems. By adding semantic context to the content—making content
intelligent—machines can learn and process content on our behalf. They’ll even be able to help us determine
The Future of Content

2. risk, spot hidden potential, and make better choices. And they’ll be able to automatically assess probability,
recommend courses of action, and guide us toward business decisions. Just imagine what that will mean for
customer support solutions, cancer research, and education.
TCW: Thomas Malone, director of the MIT Center for Collective Intelligence, has said that one of the
biggest questions associated with cognitive computing is: “How can people and computers be
connected so that collectively they act more intelligently than any person, group, or computer has
ever done before?” In your view, why would intelligent content (modular, structured, semantically
rich, reusable, format-free content) be of value to help cognitive computing technologies make
sense of the exploding availability of content coming at us from an increasing number of sources?
MR: The need for intelligent content is paramount when thinking in terms of advanced solutions like cognitive
computing. We can teach systems what they need to know about unstructured content. That’s one option. Or,
we can provide systems with intelligent content equipped with semantic metadata. Metadata helps cognitive
computing systems understand the content without our needing to intervene as trainers. Companies that have
invested in intelligent content solutions are ahead of the curve in this area. Intelligent content and artificial
intelligence systems go hand-in-hand.
TCW: I know that many people hear words like cognitive
computing and jump to the conclusion that it’s all about artificial
intelligence and replacing humans with robots. I realize you’re
not talking about that, although there is a grain of truth in those
fears. Artificial intelligence will allow us to innovate and to
create better solutions. Those innovations may indeed lead to
job losses. But, there’s an entire world of new jobs that are
being created at the same time. Do you see this transformation
the same way as I do?
MR: Yes, Scott. I do. First, it’s important to note that the cognitive
computing revolution is not about replacing humans with machines. It’s about shifting gears and providing
humans with the better results by leveraging computers to do what they do best. The volume and velocity of
content being produced by organizations, shared and curated by people via social media, and collected by
sensors connected to the Internet of Things, is huge. Thus cognitive computing power is required to help us
make sense of the volumes of content around us. Combined with intelligent content, cognitive computing can
help us solve many of the global challenges we face today.
Even with all the advancements made in cognitive computing, there will always be debate on how far
technology can take us. During the 2016 Wimbledon tennis tournament, IBM Watson predicted the number of
first service points and aces that would be needed in order for one player to win against his opponent.
Unfortunately, Watson’s predictions weren’t always spot on. I guess Watson will have to go back to the drawing
board to figure out how athletic ability, speed, and endurance relate to scoreboard pressure, nerves, and
emotion. There’s still plenty of room for improvement.
TCW: Good point. Although, IBM used Watson at Wimbledon to cull through all sorts of other data
that did provide some useful data points. For example, Watson used facial recognition to attempt to
understand what people were cheering about (or not) during the matches. And, Watson was pointed
at social media channels to decipher what Wimbledon fans were sharing and chatting about on the
web.
That said, I think you’re spot on with your prediction about cognitive computing and the future of
content. It will be interesting to see where these new capabilities lead us. There will be a few
stumbles along the way.
Thanks for sharing your views with our audience.
MR: I’ll leave you with this quote from IBM CEO Ginni Rometty, “This era will redefine the relationship between
man and machine.” Cognitive computing, while still relatively new, holds many possibilities. I’m excited to see
what we can make happen.
Thanks for the opportunity to share my thoughts with your audience, Scott. I appreciate it.