WHO WE ARE
MEET IVOW
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At IVOW, we make smart stories for smart devices. We empower our clients to combine representative data and traditional storytelling solutions into their technology, a foundational step towards building more culturally-aware intelligent agents.
As many organizations are still learning how best to adopt and leverage AI capabilities, our goal is to help them harness the power of conversational AI and storytelling. Stories ignite our sense of adventure, give context to history and help shape the cultural identity of the world around us. |
DIVERSE LEADERSHIP
We are led by a diverse team located around the globe. Our founder, Davar Ardalan in Washington, DC, was a veteran journalist at NPR News and deputy director of the Presidential Innovation Fellowship Program. Nikki McLay in New Zealand is a multi-disciplinary creative with expertise in applied AI, design communications, digital development, and fine art. Nisa McCoy in Columbus, Ohio, has more than a decade of experience in interaction design and product development at organizations like NASA, Oracle, ViaSat, and Cox Communications. Kee Malesky in Washington, DC, had a long, award-winning career as a news librarian and researcher for National Public Radio.
As a multidisciplinary team of women, we bring a unique perspective to AI, and have achieved recognition for IVOW as trailblazers in cultural artificial intelligence.
As a multidisciplinary team of women, we bring a unique perspective to AI, and have achieved recognition for IVOW as trailblazers in cultural artificial intelligence.
OUR IMPACT
Since 2018, IVOW has delivered on the promise of cultural intelligence in AI through storytelling with over 2,000 investors, corporate and civic tech leaders, policymakers, AI experts, testers, QA leaders, anthropologists, and storytellers. This includes engagements with Topcoder, Soul Machines, XPrize, ITU, NASA’s International Space Apps Challenge, WeWork Labs, WaiAccelerate, Amazon, IBM, and KiwiTech.
IVOW’s many projects have also been widely recognized for helping to encode cultural context in AI and eliminate bias from public datasets. For example, we partnered with Topcoder for the Women in History Data Ideation Challenge, which resulted in more easily usable public data sources on the achievements of women throughout history. Our Indigenous Knowledge Graph (IKG) demonstrated how creating structure around the stories and food traditions of our ancestors can foster inclusive intelligence in AI. We also collaborated with Soul Machines to add our conversational AI (Sina Storyteller) to their “Digital Humans,” resulting in a much richer, culturally-relevant user experience.
IVOW’s larger goal is to use cultural diversity in AI to deepen connections across cultures, and amplify the contributions and needs of under-represented traditions and marginalized groups. Our work encompasses a human-centric approach to AI, which is essential for developing trustworthy, ethical, and inclusive technology.
IVOW’s many projects have also been widely recognized for helping to encode cultural context in AI and eliminate bias from public datasets. For example, we partnered with Topcoder for the Women in History Data Ideation Challenge, which resulted in more easily usable public data sources on the achievements of women throughout history. Our Indigenous Knowledge Graph (IKG) demonstrated how creating structure around the stories and food traditions of our ancestors can foster inclusive intelligence in AI. We also collaborated with Soul Machines to add our conversational AI (Sina Storyteller) to their “Digital Humans,” resulting in a much richer, culturally-relevant user experience.
IVOW’s larger goal is to use cultural diversity in AI to deepen connections across cultures, and amplify the contributions and needs of under-represented traditions and marginalized groups. Our work encompasses a human-centric approach to AI, which is essential for developing trustworthy, ethical, and inclusive technology.
AI STORYTELLING
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