Liesl Yearsley
Founder & CEO
aKin
Australia
Liesl Yearsley is a recognised global expert in the field of Artificial Intelligence, with over two decades of hands-on experience. Rather than merely discussing AI, she has a track record of building and scaling extensive AI systems that have facilitated tens of millions of interactions.
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Currently, Liesl serves as the founder and CEO of aKin, a Generative AI enterprise whose clientele includes prestigious organisations like NASA. As a wave 3 AI entity, akin to chatGPT3 and antropic, aKin operates as a public benefit AI with its proprietary foundation model. It is designed to tackle intricate problems, demonstrating profound empathy and understanding. The applications of aKin extend to sectors such as healthcare, space, research, and even as a personal AI for daily life.
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Prior to her work with aKin, Yearsley was the CEO and co-founder of Cognea, an AI platform that deployed advanced AI analytics and virtual agents across complex domains like finance, health, and technology. At the time of its acquisition by IBM, Cognea had an impressive footprint with 26,000 developers and six Fortune 100 companies utilising its technology. The diverse user base included major banks, top American insurance companies, media firms like Fairfax, and tech giants such as IBM and HP.
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Liesl led another venture as the CEO and founder of an AI-powered search engine that she successfully listed on the ASX.
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As a technical founder with four patents to her name, Yearsley offers profound and pragmatic expertise in her domain. Her approach goes beyond inducing fear about AI; instead, she provides a comprehensive understanding of AI's inner workings, its potential applications, and strategies to stay ahead in the forthcoming AI-centric world.