Conversations with Rich Bennett

Manuj Aggarwal Tells Us Why We Need To Embrace Artificial Intelligence

February 14, 2024 Rich Bennett / Manuj Aggarwal
Conversations with Rich Bennett
Manuj Aggarwal Tells Us Why We Need To Embrace Artificial Intelligence
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Show Notes Transcript

In this episode of "Conversations with Rich Bennett," proudly sponsored by "Maryland Pickers," host Rich Bennett engages with Manuj Aggarwal, a visionary in the Artificial Intelligence (AI) field. Aggarwal shares his compelling journey from his humble beginnings in India to becoming a globally recognized AI expert with significant contributions to technology and society. The discussion illuminates AI's transformative potential across various sectors, debunking common misconceptions and highlighting its role in enhancing human capabilities rather than replacing them.

Aggarwal's anecdotes, including his groundbreaking work in healthcare leading to a product acquisition by a renowned company, underscore AI's practical impact. He advocates for personalized education through AI, demonstrating its effectiveness in catering to individual learning needs and potentially revolutionizing the traditional education system.

The conversation also touches on AI's broader societal implications, encouraging a shift in perspective towards technology as a tool for empowerment and progress. Aggarwal's message is clear: embracing AI is not just about technological advancement but also about harnessing its potential to improve lives and create a more inclusive and understanding world.

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...

Rich Bennett 0:00
Thanks for joining the conversation, where we explore the stories and experiences that shape our world. I'm your host, Rich Bennett, and today I'm excited to welcome Anuj Agarwal, an AI expert. You heard me right. AI expert With 15 years in the field and four AI patents, he's created significant value for major clients like Microsoft and IBM and has impacted over 10 million lives, earning recognition from figures like President Obama and Bill Gates, known for making complex topics understandable and enjoyable manners, combines humor with deep knowledge. He's not just a professional achiever, but also a dedicated parent with inspiring stories, ready to share insights on courage and possibility. And I've been looking forward to this because I'm just fascinated by AI and where it's going. So, Maneesh, welcome to the show, man. Thank you so. 

Manuj Aggarwal 0:56
Much. Thanks. Thanks a lot for that great intro. 

Rich Bennett 1:00
Oh, my pleasure. Before we get into the AI part, tell us a little bit about yourself. I mean, when you're back in high school and everything, is this what you always wanted to do? 

Manuj Aggarwal 1:12
Actually. 

Rich Bennett 1:13
I guess you could say the I.T. field. 

Manuj Aggarwal 1:15
Yeah. So, my my. Actually, you know, my story of I grew up in India, and when I was in high school around 15, in a very like I was in a very small town and there was not a lot of opportunity. So my career actually started working in a factory at 15. And that's. Wow. And yeah, I was making $2 a day and it was a pretty tough life. And the, the, the idea was that I wanted to get out of that life and make a better life. And for that, I, I realized earlier on that I needed to acquire some valuable skills, something that'll that'll help me to get out of that situation. And at that time, computers and Internet were very new, especially in that part of the world. And so I just, you know, for, for just drawing things out. I enrolled myself into a class and I found out that I enjoyed it. I was good at it. And sort of that created the foundation for me to go into technology and software. 

Rich Bennett 2:23
You said $2 a day. 

Manuj Aggarwal 2:26
That's right. That's right. 

Rich Bennett 2:28
At 15. 

Holy cow, man. That's. Yeah. Is that was that normal back in. 

Manuj Aggarwal 2:38
Back in those days? Yeah. I mean, even now, like India is quite a, quite am more richer than what it used to be. 30 years. Right. But it is quite normal. I mean even today you'll find people making, you know, like maybe $10 a day and that's their living. 

Rich Bennett 2:57
Wow. Wow. So what brought you to Vancouver? 

Manuj Aggarwal 3:02
I'm at the top of I followed a girl and you know. 

Rich Bennett 3:07
The rest is history, right? Exactly. I hope you married her. 

Manuj Aggarwal 3:11
Yeah, I did. But then. Now we are also divorced. 

Rich Bennett 3:15
Oh, gee, I'm sorry to hear that, then. Oh, so now you're going to follow us all the way to go somewhere else? 

Manuj Aggarwal 3:24
That is what I meant to write. 

Rich Bennett 3:28
So I. How? And I said in there you've been doing I for what was it, 15 years. Right. Yeah. Now. All right. Which that proves my mom point because before we started talking, I told you for some reason, a lot of people think I is new. Why is that? 

Manuj Aggarwal 3:47
Well, mostly because, you know, whenever a new technology is introduced, this was triggered by chargeability. So GDP came along and I think November of 2022, and it took the world by storm. And, you know, everybody sort of started feeling what is the power API? But yeah, it has been around since the 1960s now it has been called different names and it has been used in different ways. But the idea is that if you have ordered anything on Amazon, you get your product the same day or the next day, not because Amazon has the best employees who are, you know, just waiting for you to order that product. And you know, they are ready to deliver it. They use AI to figure out where exactly that product is stored in their warehouses. They have robots picking up that product, putting it into a bin, shipping it all that. So you take out your mobile phone from your pocket. Every little app on that phone is controlled by air. So if you have used Facebook when it came out and you know, 2005 26, it's all you know. So a lot of people think that AI is new, but it has been in our lives and it has been controlling our lives in so many ways for. 

Rich Bennett 5:13
Decades, right? Yeah. Yeah. Nowadays it's how many people can actually live without it. If you think about it, everything that even your cars nowadays. 

Manuj Aggarwal 5:22
Absolutely. Absolutely. Not. Even not even your modern cars, let's say you you're driving an older car. But if you use the G.P.S., if you say if you ever took out your phone and the okay, it would give me the directions to that point. That's only I mean, it is going to things that satellites and figuring out exactly where you are and giving you the route based on the I. 

Rich Bennett 5:48
Now you said for Pat. Yes. Are you allowed to tell us what those four buttons are? 

Manuj Aggarwal 5:54
Yeah. Yeah, yeah. So a couple of them are in healthcare. So we used to help people with joint pains. A lot of people like joint pain because of the nature of the job they have and what not, especially because of the way their feet are constructed, because they have to stand all day. And if they have to stand and their feet have some certain anomalies and then they experience joint pain. So we use the eye to figure out their the shape of their foot and all that, and created 3D printed orthotics that fit into their shoe. And they provided support at the right pressure points to help them with joint pains. 

Rich Bennett 6:34
Wow. 

Manuj Aggarwal 6:35
Yeah. 

Rich Bennett 6:37
Wow. That is awesome. 

Manuj Aggarwal 6:39
Yeah. Oh, he can. And, and and the surprising thing is when we work on this type of project, we work with trained physicians. So in this case, we worked with people who have decades of experience in analyzing foot 

and the algorithms were based on their input and the AI was performing better than the trained doctors within four weeks. 

Rich Bennett 7:05
Whoa. 

Manuj Aggarwal 7:06
Yeah. 

Rich Bennett 7:08
Whoa, whoa. That. And that's just one of your patents. 

Manuj Aggarwal 7:11
Yeah, exactly. 

Rich Bennett 7:12
So I looked at many people. You're helping with. 

Manuj Aggarwal 7:15
That? Yeah, exactly. They were like more than 100,000 people who who tried that product. And then actually, it was sold to a very large German company. You may recognize the brand name Dr. Sholes. 

Rich Bennett 7:33
No way. Come on. Seriously. Oh, man, that is pretty wild. Oh, yeah? How how in the world did you ever come upon that? 

Manuj Aggarwal 7:43
I mean, you know, this kind of revolutionary, revolutionary technologies? The idea is that innovation happens in a fast paced startup world. You know, people come up with these really ideas and you have to like, you know, have really smart people put together the whole execution. And when the product is out, then if if it's a good product, then these large companies, what they do is they they have the big bucks, so they pay off the people who innovated and then they, you know, they sell it under their brand because large companies are not able to innovate as fast because they have so much bureaucracy and all that. Right there inside the company. So that's what happened to them. And then there are other patterns out in education. We use the AI to help students learn in a in a personalized manner. So what happens today is that every student in the classroom gets the same curriculum. So if there are 50 students in the class and a teacher is teaching, every student is going to get exactly the same lesson. But the thing is, we know as humans, some people are advanced in certain topics. Some people write slower. So in a class of 50, perhaps five of those students are already familiar with the topic. They can skip ahead and learn something extra about that topic. And let's say ten students are really lagging behind and they need extra help. So 

a teacher is not able to do this personalized, you know, way of teaching. But with the AI, we can understand, okay, you know, this student is faster so you can skip ahead and then move on to other things. And this student is a little bit slower. So we will provide you with more, more material so that you can learn better. And then there was another one where we helped students finish their degree programs because, you know, about 30% of the students in especially in the higher education space. So when you go to university, 30% of the students drop out of their degree program within the first two years because they find out that, you know, the degree that they are studying for is no interest, is of no interest on it. It is too difficult for them. And so we all know about the student debt crisis. So, you know, they are pressured by the debt they are accumulating and they are not enjoying their life, so they just quit. So we use the AI to understand each student's interests and then recommend the right courses based on that. So the idea is that, you know, if you're if you are temperament, that is towards art, we will recommend courses related to art and, you know, data that are optimized for further career advancement and education and whatnot. And so that was really, really impactful where, you know, more students, the dropout rate really declined and universities were, you know, really happy about that. Students were really happy about that balance, were really happy about that. And that was the project that got recognition from Obama and Bill Gates. 

Rich Bennett 11:09
They need that and all the public schools here. 

Manuj Aggarwal 11:11
Yeah. 

Rich Bennett 11:12
Because because I mean, well, one of the things they're always telling students is I think it's even starts in middle school. Tell them to set a career path and, you know, pushing college down their throat. But let's face it, kids, when they're young, they don't know what they want to do yet, especially in middle school. You know, a lot of them, once they get into college, you're right. A lot of them will go that first year. And I've seen it happen all the time or even two years. You realize, oh, no, I, I don't want to major and then I want to major in something else or even I don't want to do that or quit college because they want to do a trade instead. But something like what you just mentioned. Yeah, I think all the schools need that because it's focusing on what the kid's interests are to interest change. Yeah, of course they do. Oh, you can focus on it early. What about as far as especially like kids with autism, Does that help that? 

Manuj Aggarwal 12:14
Absolutely, because the thing is that, you know, 

in my opinion, you know, we give labels to conditions that we don't understand. So we say, oh, you know, this person thinks it thinks differently, behave differently. So let's call them autistic. You know, But the the the idea is that we all behave differently. And when you collect data, when you use technology, you can understand a lot more about a human being and how they think and what are their aspirations and what are their hopes and what do they want out of life. And so you can really make a difference in their life by understanding that. 

Rich Bennett 12:57
So with a and for those of you listening, in case some of you don't know what A.I. means, it seems her artificial intelligence figured out, better put that out there because I know somebody would say, What in the hell is A.I.? What do you think is the biggest misconception people have about AI, and why do you think this misconception persists? 

Manuj Aggarwal 13:16
Well, the first one is, you know, yeah, is going to take away our jobs. So that that is a myth that has been sensationalized in the media. And, you know, obviously in movies we see it depicted like, okay, you know, robots are going to take over the world. And the idea that technology, as we were mentioning earlier, and any time a new revolutionary technology comes in, human beings are always pessimistic about it. They're always going to say, okay, I don't like change. I don't I don't I don't think this is good for me. But the idea, as we said earlier, people think is going to come and take away our jobs. But yeah, it's already here. It is not taking away anybody jobs. Right. The idea is you need to learn that every time a new technology comes, it makes us more productive. It makes us more, you know, like creative, it gives us more capabilities. So I give an example. You know, before the automobile came in and Henry Ford invented the assembly line, people used to say, Oh, I want a faster horse cart, but I don't want a car. And when the car was introduced, everybody was most of the public was against it because they said, oh, look, it spills out all this smog. It must be the devil's vehicle, right? 

And now you cannot imagine your life without a car. Right? So when the Internet came out, some people may remember there was a big scare globally about the Y2K problem. So, yes, So a lot of people said, oh, you know, the whole world is going to crash. And and typically in our style, everybody went to the grocery stores and emptied out the grocery stores thinking the world is coming to an end. So this reaction is usual. It's not unusual, but the idea is that people who can recognize the opportunity. So let me give you an idea about what an opportunity is. So this is the CEO of IBM telling us that he is going to add about $10 trillion to the world GDP by 2030. Okay. So 10 trillion is $10,000 billion. That will be added by in the next seven years. 

Okay. Huh? Yes. 

Rich Bennett 15:46
Okay. And how. 

Manuj Aggarwal 15:49
I mean, you can look at it. How did Apple become a $2 trillion company? 

Rich Bennett 15:55
Oh, okay. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Okay. 

Manuj Aggarwal 15:57
So in 2007, they released the iPhone and within, what, 13 years, they have sold more iPhones than any other product in history. And it made them $1,000,000,000,000 company. Right. 

Rich Bennett 16:15
Okay. Okay. 

Manuj Aggarwal 16:15
So I'll give you more examples. So, Jeff Bezos, if you guys know the number of Amazon in 1997, he came up with a brilliant idea that, oh, you know, Internet is becoming popular now. So let me sell some books online using technology right now. He didn't come up with a brilliant, like a super brilliant idea that selling books will work. But he mixed two ideas together, selling books and the Internet, and it took him 15 years to become the richest person on the planet. Right? 

Rich Bennett 16:51
Wow. Yeah. 

Manuj Aggarwal 16:52
And I'll give you a personal example. So in 1995, I logged into the Internet for the first time in my life, and in 1998, I wanted to apply for an entry level job. And I could not apply for that entry level job unless I had an email address and a digital resume right in three years, the world had changed so much. So you can see how the AI is going to add $10,000 billion in the next seven years, and that's an unknown. Okay. 

Rich Bennett 17:30
Wow. Well, you think about it. I think everybody is and correct me if I'm wrong, but especially in businesses, you're seeing more businesses using AI. 

Manuj Aggarwal 17:42
Yeah, Everybody, everybody, every aspect of life is going to be using AI. We are already using it. They said if you have to use G.P.S. in your in your travels in, you know, your daily life, you are using AI. If you are ordering products on Amazon, you're using. Yeah, this recording that we are making right now in high definition, we are doing that sitting thousands of miles across because behind the scenes in AI is making sure that the audio and the video quality is great and all of that. 

Rich Bennett 18:14
So yeah, yeah. Wow. Then I am digging this more and more and I got it. Met with web chat. GPG came out. At first I was kind of leery because I was listening to all the naysayers and I started to play around with it and wow, what a it's a time saver. It's a time saver. And I think people that aren't 

using this, using AI that are afraid to use it, are missing the boat. 

Manuj Aggarwal 18:48
Absolutely. Absolutely. 

Rich Bennett 18:49
They they need to get in there and start 

using it. And one of the and I've had a couple of guests on it and they may get upset with me about this authors for some reason are some of them are scared to death of this. And if you haven't written any books or of. 

Manuj Aggarwal 19:13
You have actually. 

Rich Bennett 19:15
Oh, you have. Oh, come on. Yeah. Yeah. Okay. 

Manuj Aggarwal 19:19
Did you not. Not. 

Rich Bennett 19:20
Did you use A.I. to help write it? 

Manuj Aggarwal 19:21
No, no, no. My books are very technical engineering focused, so it's not like life. But then the other thing is that if I do write a next book, I definitely value the AI for sure. Why won't you? The I mean, again, I can go to the grocery store, let's say if I have to pick up groceries, I can either walk and spend 30 minutes getting to the grocery store or I can take the car. It's my choice. The use, the technology and the tools available to me to make my life comfortable and get the results that I'm looking for. 

Rich Bennett 19:54
Right? Yeah. I mean, to me, it makes sense to me and correct me if I'm wrong again on this, but with the computers, you know, with the explosion of computers, people are getting nervous. But, you know, we were told a computer is only as smart as what the person put into it. You know, age basically is the same way, right? In a way. Okay. 

Manuj Aggarwal 20:20
Yeah. Yeah. Okay. Well, the thing is that most people, first of all, they haven't even tried it yet. And when they try it, they they need to see if it's like any other thing. If you put garbage in, you'll get garbage out. You have to really know how to use the technology. How do you how to, like, really make it right in your own dawn, in your own language, in your own style and all that is possible. And not only that, but come up with new creative ideas that you may or may not have thought of. 

Rich Bennett 20:53
By a year. All right. I got to ask you this, because 

you just you 

you have to be proud of yourself on this. But what's it feel like to be a global thought leader in a. 

Manuj Aggarwal 21:11
Yeah, Yeah. Well, I mean, you know, that's obviously it's a surreal experience and it's it's awesome that people call me that and recognize me that. But what I realized that, you know, coming from a background that I come from thought leaders basically to me means that there are other thought leaders way smarter than me, way more capable than me. They have included me in their group. They have said, okay, your thoughts are funny, but some you are somebody that we can listen to and sort of get some value from it. And being in their company, it makes me a thought leader as well. So I, I think that my thought leadership totally relies on people around me who have mentored me, who have called me people smarter than me, who I collaborate with. Without those people, I won't be anything. 

Rich Bennett 22:07
Right. So with a I got I told you, man, I was looking forward to this. I got a ton of questions 

because I just want to I want people to know there's nothing to be afraid of. You know, use it. Can you discuss a time when an I application completely defied public expectations, either positively or negatively? 

Manuj Aggarwal 22:34
This is going to be a little bit controversial. So I hope you know, I don't I don't know if anybody off. 

Rich Bennett 22:40
But if you do, it doesn't matter, man. Go ahead. 

Manuj Aggarwal 22:44
You know, look at look at our elections across the world, but particularly in the United States. Okay. 

Rich Bennett 22:52
Right. 

Manuj Aggarwal 22:53
So for the last 15 years that you will notice a trend that, you know, all the all the whenever there's an election, there is a poll that have multiple polls that happen. They say, oh, you know, this candidate is going to win and this candidate is going to win. Now, about 15 years ago, those polls used to be quite accurate. You know, if the exit poll says, oh, a candidate is going to win, General, that candidate used to say they won. And you will notice now that most of the polls are wrong. They will say, oh, this candidate is going to win. And generally everybody is surprised that, oh, I didn't expect this to happen. Right, Right. Why is that? Because as soon as the polls are based on all the methods of interviewing people and all that, who tells the truth these days on a survey, if somebody called you up and said, hey, I'd like to talk to you about your opinions about what's happening, and most people are not going to say the truth on the surface, but with I, with technology, with data, you don't even have to talk to people. You can just understand their behavior and see, okay, this is what they are thinking. And you can use the AI to many their their thinking as well. So you can actually change their opinion towards whatever way you want them to think. That is the reason why you have so many surprises when election results come out. 

Rich Bennett 24:29
Wow. Yeah. I never thought about that because, I mean, nowadays you hear and there's so many different polls when it comes that only excuse me, so many different polls in everything. Every time you get on the Internet, how many times you hit it with, oh, we take this poll, take this survey. But yeah, it's you're right. Because I remember years, years ago, the polls were pretty accurate, but not now. Wow. I that's pretty wild. So what do you believe the most underrated aspect of AI that the general public should be aware of or more aware of? 

Manuj Aggarwal 25:10
I mean, FT This is the biggest invention that humanity has ever created. Okay, So I'll give you some other quotations from the CEO of Google that AI is going to have the same type of impact, just like fire or electricity. 

MM Okay. So think about that. Like how, how, how will your life be if you don't have fire or electricity, right? 

Rich Bennett 25:40
So you be living, living in a cave. 

Manuj Aggarwal 25:43
Exactly. For that. So how is going to change the way that humans exist on this planet? 

Rich Bennett 25:53
Yeah, I think definitely for the better. 

Manuj Aggarwal 25:56
Yes, exactly. For the better. And for sure, there's going to be what. 

Rich Bennett 25:59
You already said that. I mean, you are already improve that with the thing with Dr. Shows. 

Manuj Aggarwal 26:05
Yeah. 

Rich Bennett 26:06
Any education. 

Manuj Aggarwal 26:07
Yeah, yeah, yeah. I mean you can go you can go to now some cities in in in the US like Phoenix and San Francisco you can just like calling an Uber, you can call a driverless car. So it will take you around and there is no driver in the car. Okay. Yeah. And those cars are much safer. They have been proven to be get into less accidents, less fatality, less So I believe in the next ten, 15 years, there's going to be laws against humans driving cars. 

Rich Bennett 26:42
I just want to know if there's an accident or somebody gets a speeding ticket. Who gets a ticket, the car or the purse. 

Manuj Aggarwal 26:50
I don't think that scenario is going to exist anymore. Yeah. 

Rich Bennett 26:54
Yeah. 

Manuj Aggarwal 26:55
The thoughts again, people say, Oh, that sounds crazy. But let me ask you, if you have taken a flight recently, nobody flies that plane. You know, the pilots are generally just sitting there because it's all driven by machines. It's all driven. It's all autopilot. Right? And when was the last time? 

Rich Bennett 27:16
Oh, yeah. 

Manuj Aggarwal 27:17
When was the last time a plane got a speeding ticket? 

Rich Bennett 27:29
That's that's a good. 

Manuj Aggarwal 27:32
You know. 

Rich Bennett 27:34
Oh, God. That's a very good point. We yeah, thanks for that, because I'm getting ready to fly. I haven't flown since 95 or 96. Not nervous as hell, but yeah, I'm going to be okay. 

That is fun with. And I want to talk about the podcast for a minute. Your podcast actually, 

you actually When did you start your podcast? 

Manuj Aggarwal 28:02
2000, 19. 

Rich Bennett 28:05
2000, 2019. Really? Yeah. Oh, wow. Okay. 

You hear a lot of podcasters, 

some of them talking about the benefits of using AI for the podcast, some of them against it for bootstrapping your dreams, your podcast. Do you actually use A.I. for that as well? 

Manuj Aggarwal 28:32
See, we are in a company. My company is all about that. I'm on it. So we incorporate it into everything that we do. Like even like, you know, even when I make dinner, I'm looking for recipes using a like, you know, it's, it's, it's a way of life for, for us. And it is going to be a way of life for everyone. It's just that we are a little bit ahead. But I encourage people to to look at it as an essential tool to make their lives more comfortable and more efficient. 

Rich Bennett 29:09
So when it comes to the podcast, what do you recommend as far as because I know there's a lot of different air applications out there, it's not the only one 

for doing the podcast, whether, you know, putting together the show notes, 

the door, basically everything. Which one do you recommend? Yeah, So because you have created one for that yet, right? 

Manuj Aggarwal 29:36
No, we have some internal tools that we create and we use for ourselves of our clients and all that. They are of course, but all the, all the usual things, as you said, like, you know, we first of all take that episode's recording, we use the AI to transcribe the whole thing. That transcription then can be converted into show notes, blog post, social media, post, email or what have you. We can create an archive of that and create almost like a digital twin of me, right? And use that to answer questions for my employees, for my clients. Because whatever I am saying right now, these are my thoughts and I can replicate that and it can sit in my door and it can I can do all that now. So all this content that we are generating, it is actually creating a digital twin of myself. 

Rich Bennett 30:33
Wow. 

Wow. All right. So there's podcast. You podcast is out there. There's no reason to be afraid. I mean, use it It's it's definitely it definitely cuts down on the time. Yeah definitely I play with it. I tell you, that's one of the things I love about it and you're just playing with it now. Again, I use chat CBT most of the time, but trying to do different prompts and it just in a way sort of stuff is pretty comedic when you see some of the responses you get from it. Although I hasn't told me yet that I'm young, so I don't. I don't like it. 

So how's your podcast actually going? 

Manuj Aggarwal 31:20
It's going pretty good. If it's top 1% podcast in the world. 

Rich Bennett 31:25
Nice, Nice. I love it. I want to talk about the business a minute, though. 

Did you ever think you would be the one going from working in that factory? Make it $2 a day to the boardrooms of Fortune 500 companies? 

Manuj Aggarwal 31:44
No, never. I mean, I was you know, the first aspirations that I had were if I can afford one pair of shoes every year, that will be amazing. 

Rich Bennett 31:57
Wow. And now what is it that you're aspiring for? 

Manuj Aggarwal 32:01
Oh, now, now we aspire to change the world with technology. Now, I mean, then you already had a marine. Marine that's. I'm assuming you're. Yeah, you're a veteran or you have some military background. So, you know, I was 

speaking just last month next to the the head of A.I. at the Pentagon and now commander of the 

International Space Station. And I've had General Petraeus on my podcast. So, you know, these kind of things. Obviously, I had never expected. But they are happening. Right. I'm obviously, you know, very inspired to see what else can happen in life. 

Rich Bennett 32:50
Wow. That is amazing. So we need to just write you need to write an autobiography. What is it about your journey? Yeah, I. 

Manuj Aggarwal 32:59
Have a I mean, there's a lot of content out there that I have written, but now the medium for putting your content out there has changed. People don't read books anymore. I mean, a lot of people say, Why don't you write a book? Because I say I focus on data. And data is telling me that most people don't read books anymore. 

Rich Bennett 33:21
Wow. Huh. Interesting. Okay. Well, I got to admit. Well, I do read them a lot, but I'll I'll listen to your show. But I listen, you're right. I listen to podcasts. We read. I do. 

Manuj Aggarwal 33:32
Exactly. 

Rich Bennett 33:34
And well, you're doing it the right way by doing the podcast. So interesting. So when you know, going back to that factory day and now you here you are sitting in the boardrooms, 

did you ever think that you would end up well because you're not a millionaire billionaire? 

Manuj Aggarwal 33:58
Not, not a billionaire. 

Rich Bennett 34:00
No. You know, I don't know. Sounds like nowadays you're saying you're seeing more billionaires, But did you ever think that you would be a millionaire? 

Manuj Aggarwal 34:07
No. No. And I think, you know, again, people may scoff at this, but I don't really focus on money that much. I focus on the impact because the idea is that if you can make an impact on a bigger number of people, then the money is a byproduct. So, you know, if you like, for example, the technology that I have personally had a hand in, it has impacted more than 10 million lives. So if if you think about like even getting like $0.50 or $0.20 or something like that, as as a direct or indirect income from people that you have impacted, that automatically makes you a millionaire, right? So think about not the number of dollars in your bank account or your network. Think about the number of humans you have impacted. 

Rich Bennett 35:03
I love that. I love that. And when we first started, when you mentioned about, you know, the AI patent. Yeah. For the doctor shows and even the education I right then in there I knew right away you're the type that likes to help people and you love to give back and I'm glad you said that because I think there's something that that is missing in the world. I think a lot of people aren't giving back and a lot of them feel like they have to have so much money in order to give back. And that's not the case. Yeah, even volunteering your time, you know, you can give back easily. 

Manuj Aggarwal 35:43
Exactly. Exactly. And by the way, I mean, I'll clarify. This is not me giving back. I'm I just enjoy technology, but I just try to get into those kind of projects or ventures where it is going to have an impact, like a bigger impact on people. And so everybody can do that. As you said, you can volunteer, but some people say, Oh, why should I volunteer? I tell them, don't even volunteer. But in your work, think about the how you measure success. Just use a different criteria and then things start to Yeah. 

Rich Bennett 36:18
Yeah. But, you know, I mean, you are giving back where I mean yeah, you're, you're, you may not agree with me, but you are, if you're helping people, you're giving back. You're, you're making a difference and you're making a difference in the world. So Where do you see the future of, let's say, A.I. within the next ten years? 

Manuj Aggarwal 36:38
Well, I, I think first of all, it is the life is going to be so different the way that we live and we think about life is going to be so different that I cannot even nobody can even imagine what that world will be like. Okay, so imagine going being in 1990s, 1980s, the only let's say if you want to contact your friend on the other side of the world, you could write him a letter. You could, you know, sort of take a long flight. And, and if you imagine your life today, you are connected with everyone on this planet instantly. And so your way of thinking, your, you know, everything you think you behave differently because technology is so ingrained in our life today. You don't ever have to go to the bank. You don't ever have to go to the post office. You don't ever have to, you know, like even for food, you have like delivery apps. Now, how has your life changed already in the last 20 years? Think about. 

Rich Bennett 37:53
That. Yeah. 

Manuj Aggarwal 37:53
Now multiply that by hundreds or even a thousand. So as they said in the next ten years, driving by humans most likely will be made illegal. Okay? If you go to a doctor, most likely they will not prescribe you a medicine, but they will actually make you a personalized medicine that matches your DNA so that you don't have any side effects. 

Wow. Okay. 

Rich Bennett 38:23
That would be awesome. 

Manuj Aggarwal 38:26
So. 

Rich Bennett 38:27
Holy cow. 

Manuj Aggarwal 38:28
So things like, you know, war and all that, I think most of the wars will I mean, traditional way of wars will end because there's no point in killing people generally. It will be like sort of digital warfare. You these kind of things, 

there's going to be like on the positive side, as I said, there's going to be tremendous opportunity for people to become entrepreneurs. There's going to be companies listed on the stock exchanges. These are public companies with one employee, which is the CEO, and everything else is done by. 

Rich Bennett 39:06
MM 

Wow. 

Yeah. MANAGER The thing you mentioned, I think that's the next pattern you got to work on. Imagine that if doctors could prescribe something to you that met that. Yeah, because of your DNA and there is no side effects. Nobody. That's one of the things already. 

Manuj Aggarwal 39:26
It's already happening. 

Rich Bennett 39:27
Is it really? 

Manuj Aggarwal 39:28
Yeah, absolutely. Okay. So again, I will bring up a topic that is controversial, so I hope I don't piss anybody off. But whatever you think about the COVID vaccines, whatever you think your idea is about that the reason why those were invented and the speed that they were at which they were invented was because of a. 

Rich Bennett 39:51
Oh, okay. 

Manuj Aggarwal 39:52
Because the way that traditionally what you have to do in order to create a medicine, you have to create many different compounds. And then you tested that's tested. Now with AI, you don't have to test everything on an actual human being. You can actually just simulated and say, okay, if I take this compound and if I, you know, add it to the human body, how will the reaction be? So that's sped up the whole process for for these things to be to invent, to be invented and tested in time. So the same technology is going to be used to understand your DNA. So that technology today is super expensive, but and it only makes sense for large initiative. But if it it's becoming cheaper and cheaper and cheaper, such that in a few years it will be available to everyone. 

Rich Bennett 40:47
Wow. Yeah, because that's one of the biggest things that chase people away from taking medication is the side effects. Yeah. I mean, hell, you you if you have depression, they prescribe something to you for depression. But one of the side effects is that it may cause more depression. Yeah. Or you may become suicidal. It's like I want to take that for then it makes sense at all. But Edward Cove it I think we actually saw a you mentioned mentioned a little bit you saw more AI being used especially with, you know, your abs delivering food and all that. 

So yeah, people, people don't need to be afraid of it. Yeah, like I said, learn from it, experience it, play with it, help people. You've been doing it since you had the computers, you know, and you know, everybody's got a computer in their house more or less. If they're not if it's not in your house, it's either in your back pocket or on your wrist. 

Manuj Aggarwal 41:53
Exactly. 

Rich Bennett 41:53
So, oh, man, something very important. Tell everybody your website so where they can find out more about you and also listen to your podcast. 

Manuj Aggarwal 42:04
Yeah, just, you know, the easiest thing is no, don't my name and search put me on Google. That'll be the easiest because I don't want, you know, so my website is again my name biological world dot com or you find me on LinkedIn and send me a message and say you know you heard me on this podcast, how can I help you. 

Rich Bennett 42:23
That I was going to say, do you teach people? I as well, yeah, yeah. Oh really. Oh nice. So those of you that aren't comfortable learning or even if you are, you want to learn more good website. So you can find out more. Hilty will give you some classes and you get well. Your books also teach it as well, right? 

Manuj Aggarwal 42:43
No, no. My book four years ago, I believe I do that high school in engineering books. Those will not make sense to most people. 

Rich Bennett 42:52
Okay, But you do do coaching? Yeah, coaching in business consulting. Okay. Which and actually, I'm glad you said with that. Are you getting a lot of businesses contacting you for assistance with? I yeah. So you're seeing that grow more businesses get more comfortable with it. Good, good. I love that. Before I get to my last question, is there anything you would like to add? 

Manuj Aggarwal 43:19
No, I think, you know, we covered most of it. I think this is the biggest opportunity for humans to make an impact and make a lot of money, you know, bring abundance for themselves, for their life, for for their families, for their communities. So don't give in to the fear and embrace it. Because if you don't, you'll be left behind. 

Rich Bennett 43:40
Yeah. Yeah. You definitely don't want to get left behind. So my final question for you. I love asking people this. You've been interviewed. Do you even know how many people have interviewed you? 

Manuj Aggarwal 43:53
Probably a couple of hundred so far. 

Rich Bennett 43:56
As I know. It's been lot. Is there anything and it doesn't necessarily have to be about AI, is there anything that a host has never asked you that you wish they would have asked you? And if so, what would be the question? What would be your answer? 

Manuj Aggarwal 44:12
That that's putting me on the spot. I can't really think of anything. 

I don't know. Yeah, but you seem to have really great questions. Maybe this is the this is the question that nobody asked me. 

Rich Bennett 44:27
It's cheating. 

Manuj Aggarwal 44:29
Though. No, I can't think of anything. But believe me to ask me anything, 

man. 

Rich Bennett 44:36
You're the first one that actually got away with that answer to that question. 

So I'll I'll let you slide on that. I think those of you listening play around with AI, let me know in the comments or leave a voicemail, whatever what you thought of it. And if you're a business owner and you need help, definitely contact Manoogian. He'll definitely help you out and it's the world is growing. AI is helping it grow even faster. So we have to jump on the bandwagon. We have to embrace it. And it's just going to it's going to help. It's going to help a lot. If if you're not using it yet, it will help you. Those of you that are using it, realize how it's helping you already. 

Manuj Aggarwal 45:26
Yeah. 

Rich Bennett 45:27
I mean, it's it's it's a it's a it's a no brainer without a doubt. Yeah. I want to thank you so much, man. It's been a true pleasure. And, God, I'm. As soon as we're finished here, I'm going to go play around again. 

Manuj Aggarwal 45:41
Thank you so much for having me. It was a great conversation. Thank you. 


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