While some may feel cautious about Artificial Intelligence taking on a more prominent role in our workforce, some see the massive potential that these tools hold – and it’s incredibly exciting. Of course the masterminds behind AI and machine learning are extremely technologically gifted, but these tools are now bringing support and innovation to a huge range of industries far beyond the traditional tech sphere.
Kanad Bahalkar grew up in India. Although his home country is currently within the top 10 of AI patenting and development, Bahalkar set his sights on studying in the US. He dreamed of launching his own startup business and knew the US would offer the greatest potential to succeed. He credits his career to his parents for their support, and commits himself steadfastly to make their sacrifices worthwhile.
Bahalkar chose to pursue a Master of Science degree in Information Systems at Northeastern University, in Boston. The program caught his attention as it offers an innovative curriculum that develops dynamic leading software engineers. Graduating students have been highly successful in designing groundbreaking solutions that align with the complexities of the business world, while also solving significant pain points for the human population. During his master’s studies, Bahalkar even had the opportunity to co-op at the highly prestigious New England Journal of Medicine.
After working for a few years in software engineering at Endurance International Group, Bahalkar relocated to San Francisco, joining the healthcare startup Knit Health. The company’s proprietary AI-based camera was created to detect sleeping and breathing disorders like sleep apnea, where he architected and built dashboards for all of the clients and doctors.
When Knit Health was acquired by Google in 2018, Bahalkar transitioned to join the Google Health team. There he worked on numerous health projects, such as PHQ-9 screeners and mapping synthetic data in patient portals, and was surrounded by some of the greatest tech minds in the world. It was a time of great learning and inspiration as he contemplated a shift into the world of tech startups and wondered how his AI expertise could best serve our modern world.
AI in Sales
Finally, in 2021, Bahalkar left Google and launched Potion, where he is now revolutionizing video sales emails by utilizing innovative AI and ML technology to personalize correspondence and campaigns. The reality is that recording personalized videos is incredibly tedious and time consuming – just 100 videos can take more than 10 hours. However, statistics show that customers are nearly 10 times more likely to interact with a video than a block of text, and personalized videos can yield a lift in conversion rates up to five times greater.
As co-founder and CPO of Potion, Bahalkar has been relentless in perfecting the technology so that the AI lipsync work is undetectable to their clients and their clients’ audiences. The state-of-the-art technology generates media content using a novel approach to produce deepfakes. Potion is deeply committed to using this technology ethically and securely, giving their clients videos that they can trust and utilize at scale. Bahalkar highlights that “The AI is so powerful that it could not be distinguished from manually making each personalized video.”
The global company has received an impressive $3.5M in initial seed investment, clearly catching the attention of some big players in the industry. Potion offers monthly subscriptions and currently serves enterprises and startups like SAP, Gorgias, and Orum. By the end of this year they will also launch an integrations suite which will allow their customers to coordinate the technology with platforms such as Outreach, Salesloft, Salesforce, and Hubspot.
Kanad Bahalkar recognizes that growth happens outside of one’s comfort zone. Just as the amazing tools of AI once seemed unfathomable, we too must look beyond our current position to dream big and shoot for the stars. It is thanks to people like Bahalkar that are doing just that that we have seen such advancements in the fields of technology, medicine, synthetic media and so much more.
Members of the editorial and news staff of the Daily Caller were not involved in the creation of this content.