Abstract: Machine learning systems have become the dominant form of AI for enterprises due in large part to years of experimentation with combinations of technical approaches. Today’s ML systems are unlike traditional software systems in that algorithms are not used to procedurally specify how systems learn to recognize or classify input. On the other hand, simulation systems have traditionally been highly procedural, which is good for understanding how a result was obtained, but ‘learning’ is not normally expected. Mike Slinn will discuss a hybrid approach under consideration based on work he started in 2008. Bio: Companies that Mike Slinn cofounded or advised have been sold to IBM, Otsuka, Microsoft, Yahoo! and NBC Interactive. A recognized software expert in US and European courts, Mike opines on contractual and patent disputes. Mike received an Electronics Engineering degree in 1979 from Carleton University in Ottawa.

1. Copyright 2007-2008 Micronautics Research, Inc.
EmpathyWorks
™
Hybrid Machine Learning / Personality
Simulation Platform

2. About Me (Mike Slinn)
• Canadian, born in Montreal.
• Electrical Eng’g degree Carleton U. 1979.
• Living in Silicon Valley past 23 years.
• Founder, ScalaCourses.com past 7 years.
• Cofounded, led and advised startups that were
sold to IBM, Otsuka, Microsoft, Yahoo!, NBC
Interactive and others.
• Software expert for US & European court.
• Desire to locate this new startup,
EmpathyWorks.ai, in Montreal.

3. What is EmpathyWorks?
• EmpathyWorks™ is a long-term personal
project whose time has come.
• Generates and predicts behavior,
including emotional states and group
dynamics.
Copyright 2007-2008 Micronautics Research, Inc.

4. Potential Applications
• Toys
• Companion robots
• Artificial characters for:
– Video games
– Movies
• Political analysis.
• Consumer behavior.
• Modeling society and individuals.
Copyright 2007-2008 Micronautics Research, Inc.

5. EmpathyWorks is …
• Rule-driven
• Declarative model – Domain-specific
language describes what, not how.
• Flexible – Define species and individuals,
behavioral characteristics, environment
and relationships.
• Time sensitive – Simulated personalities
respond to the passage of time.

6. 3 Definitions
• Persona is an individual's behavioral
tendencies in a given social context.
• Behavior is a persona's response to a
stimulus.
• Personality is the collection of behaviors
for a persona.
• These definitions cross-reference each
other because definitions of behavior are
recursive in nature.

7. Relationships
• EmpathyWorks models an individual’s
behavior in terms of their relationships.
• Models simulate entire communities
containing a variety of species, not just a
single individual.
• Family units and inheritance are supported.
• EmpathyWorks supports a complex web of
relationships.
• Events cascade through communities.

8. Behavior Is Contextual
• Relationships and other situational factors
provide context.
• Behavior is triggered and shaped by
context.

9. Responses
• Behavior is defined by responses to
events.
• Speech is not required for a response,
thus it is not necessary for behavior.
• Responses are predicated by life stage,
world view, recent history, the relationship
that delivers the event and more.

10. Emotional Display
• EmpathyWorks can inform an AI
application about an artificial persona's
internal state.
• The AI application might display the
emotion, or it might act.

11. Decision Making
• The AI application can query the
EmpathyWorks Personality Model for
recommendations as to which of several
choices to make.
• EmpathyWorks can initiate action when a
time threshold is passed.

12. Behavioral Model
• Model defined by domain-specific languages
(DSL), including English, JSON, XML.
• Models can be updated while running
without losing state.

13. Relationships
• Societal Modeling -
relationships between
individuals can be
defined.
• Predator/prey
relationships.
• Group dynamics.

14. Events
• An artificial personality’s responses to
events are inherited and evolve.
• Environmental events
• Species-specific responses:
– Life-changing events
– Mundane events
– Shared events

15. Life Stages
• Artificial personalities
can grow from conception, to
children, teenagers, adults,
elders and eventually die.
• Different species have unique
life stages.

16. Multi-Generational
Inheritance
• Personality traits can be inherited
from parents
• Genetic variance and random variance is
supported

17. Scalable
• Uses event sourcing and CRDTs (monoids)
for large-scale computation.
• Goal: Model millions, then billions of
individuals and their relationships.

18. Spinning Out New Venture
• EmpathyWorks will be spun out into a new company.
• We need:
– Technologists to create product
– Researcher relationships
– Product management
– Sales
– Investors
– Media relations, etc.
• We offer
– Insightful product; explains and predicts behavior.
– New platform for psych PhD theses.

19. Thank You!
• Do you have any questions?
Michael Slinn, Founder
+1-650-678-2285
empathyworks.ai

20. Guiding Design Principle
• Perfect algorithms, AI techniques or
models do not exist.
• Flexibility is key.
• Design interfaces, not hard-coded
solutions.
• Broad and deep system integration
options win RFPs.
Copyright 2007-2008 Micronautics Research, Inc.

21. Coprocessor / Plug-in
• Integration platform.
• Existing AI/ML
applications can be
enhanced with
artificial personality.
• Applications can be
big or small, physical
or virtual.

22. Sample Integration (2008)
Copyright 2007-2008 Micronautics Research, Inc.

23. Demo v1 Schematic (2008)