Happy 10th birthday, ElementX!

Happy 10th birthday, ElementX! We’re thrilled to celebrate this milestone (with cake!) and reflect on the lessons we've learned, the exciting challenges we've tackled, and the fantastic accomplishments we've achieved. To help us put the last decade into perspective, we sat down with our three founders to discuss what they've learned about AI, practical advice for companies looking to start, and all the memories in between - from silly Mario Party competitions, to blowing up on Twitch, this last decade has had it all.

‍

Reflecting on the Journey: Looking back over the past decade, how have you seen the landscape of AI technology change, and what are the most significant milestones or achievements in the AI domain that stand out to you?

‍

Daniel Xu:

AI has come such a long way over the past 10 years. It’s gone from somewhat gimmicky to now delivering real business value, especially in the field of Virtual Assistants. I remember in the early days, there was a lot of hype and vapourware going around. I recall back in 2016, we were using an ‘AI image recognition’ service and later found that it was actually just a bunch of people in the backend manually tagging the images. It did fool a lot of people though and got us onto WIRED. 

Ming Cheuk:

The past 10 years has corresponded with some of the biggest developments in AI, despite the fundamental principles they’re built on existing before that (1957). We saw image recognition taking a leap in 2012 with AlexNet, the basis of modern LLMs in 2017 with the Transformer, and emerging signs of generative with GPT-1 shortly following in 2018. The GPT we know today has really only been a recent development in the past year, and has leapfrogged the capability and usefulness of AI into solving some problems previously unsolvable by machines. 

Richard McLean:

Ten years seems a long time to look back on AI, given the constant acceleration of its capabilities and use. Clearly one of the significant milestones has been the release of LLM’s and useful interfaces to allow non-experts to make use of and experiment with the technology. I think this has kick-started a lot of curiosity and thinking around AI. One of the achievements in this regard is the democratization of access to the technologies. 

I am also proud of our team and how they have managed to stay abreast of the frequent and varied advances in AI technologies. To best serve customers we have needed to maintain this knowledge - even though it changes daily. 

‍

Lessons Learned: Building and scaling an AI consulting company involves navigating various AI-related challenges and learning experiences. Can you share one key lesson or piece of AI-specific advice you've gained during ElementX's journey?

‍

Daniel Xu:

There’s a lot to consider around AI - not just the technical. A lot of people have concerns about bias, safety, ethics, etc. So one thing we’ve learned is you’ve got to take people on a journey. One advice we give to organisations considering AI - especially if they’re new to this - is to not be too ambitious with your initial step. Don’t pick the hardest problem to solve, but instead, identify a low hanging fruit, get a win and use that to help drive adoption inside an organisation.

Ming Cheuk:

Don’t dismiss a technology just because it’s in its infancy. Several times in the past we’ve come across AI accomplishments from research that sounded great on paper but disappointed when tested out on real data. This includes virtual assistants that couldn’t even respond to “hi”, early image recognition that couldn’t tell a cat from a dog. However, as those technologies became better, more people realised the value (and potential dangers). Recognising signs of the beginning of something big is important from both a competitive advantage perspective, but also from an ethics/safety perspective in managing the adoption/use before they become an unfixable problem. 

‍Richard McLean:

One lesson is how organisations need to get things in the right order - get their ducks in a row, so to speak. Not so long ago we were often dealing with mature organisations that had decided at the executive level to launch into a specific AI project on the advice of their teams and with board level support. The challenge (and learning) was that they weren't ready, nor was their data. Not an insurmountable challenge by any means, but it highlighted the importance of setting expectations around AI and managing those. 

‍

Favorite Memories: Every journey is filled with memorable moments, big and small. What are some of your favourite memories or experiences from the past 10 years as co-founders of this company? Whether it's a project, a team achievement, or a personal anecdote, we'd love to hear about what has made this journey special for you.

‍

Daniel Xu:

For me business is all about people. One of our values at ElementX is People First. There’s been so many amazing people we’ve worked with, our team, customers and partners. A lot of blood, sweat, and tears. One of the things I’m most proud of is the way we’ve trained and developed our people along the way. We have a number of staff that started out as grads/interns and have gone into much more senior roles. Its just fantastic to see them grow into their careers.

Ming Cheuk:

Our hackathons were something special. We’d get the team together for a few days at a bach somewhere out of town, experiment with and build some really cool tech we wouldn’t normally do day-to-day. Some memorable things that came out of it include launching a digital human streamer on Twitch with early Generative AI (Blender from Facebook) and getting huge stream engagement, and 1,000 followers in the course of a few days (and money-paying subscribers too!). One hackathon idea/project even led to a client engagement which is now deployed in production. Aside from the intense building, there was always enough time to enjoy a team cooked meal, play some board games, and share skills and stories outside of work.

Richard McLean:

So many, they all weave into a series of great memories. We started out with very little apart from some ambition and an intrepid attitude. The main highlights all involve experiences shared with my co-founders or others in the team. Many of those were about achieving goals, both small and large. Planning a sales meeting, closing a deal, and reviewing the process together for example. Another would be hitting revenue milestones as we have grown. One that brings back a smile is having all our laptop boxes stored - with serial numbers etc. We were burgled by a burglar who must have been a bit obsessive compulsive. He spent so long matching all the laptops to the right boxes (all while being watched on video) the police had time to come down and grab him in the act. A fond memory. 

‍

From the early days of AI hype and experimentation to the rise of GPT and every-day AI interactions, we have witnessed the transformative power of AI firsthand. But beyond that, what’s made this journey truly special are the memories we have created together as a team. From the thrill of hackathons and innovative projects to the growth and development of our talented staff, every moment has shaped our company and its culture. And as we look forward to the next decade, we can't wait to see what the future holds for ElementX and the ever-evolving world of AI.