Catalin Voss

Last updated
Catalin Voss
Catalin Voss.png
Born1995 (age 28–29)
Heidelberg, Germany
Education Stanford University
Occupation(s)Entrepreneur; co-founder & CTO of Ello Technology, Inc.
Known for Inventor, Founder

Catalin Voss is a German-born inventor and entrepreneur. Voss is considered a pioneer in applying artificial intelligence and machine learning for societal impact in areas such as childhood literacy, Autism, financial inclusion in emerging economies, and the criminal justice system. [1] [2] [3] [4]

Contents

He is currently the co-founder and CTO of Ello, an AI-powered reading tutor for children. [5]

Early life and education

Catalin Voss was born in Heidelberg, Germany. [6] At the age of 12, when the Apple iPhone was released for the first time, Voss taught himself iOS development [7] and launched a podcast and online tutorials about iPhone app development which attracted over 200,000 viewers. [8]

At age 15, Voss caught the attention of Steve Capps, one of the creators of the original Apple Macintosh, who offered him an internship working on mobile app development at PayNearMe. [9] With Capps, he helped to design, develop, and co-launch the mobile payment platform, and was kept on by CEO Danny Shader as a software engineer. [9] [7] [6]

Voss graduated with honors from Stanford University in 2016 with a B.S. and M.S. in Computer Science and a specialization in Artificial Intelligence. [10] Voss enrolled in Stanford’s PhD program in Artificial Intelligence, but has been on leave since 2020 to co-found Ello. [5]

Sension

While still an undergraduate student at Stanford, Voss founded Sension, a computer vision startup. [11] Sension developed advanced facial motion capture technology that could be used for a variety of applications from driver monitoring systems to educational analytics, but the original purpose of the technology was to track student engagement during online courses. [8] Voss served as CEO of Sension and led the development of the company's core technology. [11]

In 2015, Sension was acquired by GAIA Systems Solutions, a Toyota-affiliated company, for an undisclosed amount. [12]

Autism Glass

While working on the facial recognition technology for Sension, Voss realized that emerging technology–which could identify emotions–would be helpful for his Autistic cousin. [13] Voss shared with the NY Times how his cousin used to practice making facial expressions in the mirror to learn to recognize emotions [14] With Terry Winograd and Dennis Wall, Voss founded the Autism Glass Project to develop a wearable AI system that could provide real-time social cues to children with ASD. [15] The system used machine learning algorithms to analyze facial expressions and provide visual and auditory feedback to the wearer through a heads-up display. [16] Children would wear Google Glasses which would provide information to the wearer about the emotions expressed by people around them. [17]

In 2016, Voss and his team published a paper at the IEEE Winter Conference on Applications of Computer Vision (WACV) describing their approach, which won the best paper award. [18]

Over the next several years, the Autism Glass system was evaluated in a series of clinical trials at Stanford Medical School which found that children who used the device showed significant improvements in their social skills and ability to recognize emotions. [19]

In 2018, the intellectual property for the Autism Glass system was licensed to Cognoa, a pediatric behavioral health company. [20]

DukaConnect

In 2017, Voss co-founded DukaConnect, a Nairobi-based startup that developed a low-cost, computer vision-based point of sale system for small retailers in Kenya which used a smartphone camera to automatically recognize products and record sales, eliminating the need for barcode scanners. [21] DukaConnect’s mission was to harness the power of technology to help small business owners in Kenya focus on what matters to grow their businesses sustainably. [22] In 2018, Mastercard acquired DukaConnect for an undisclosed amount and integrated the technology into its Lab for Financial Inclusion in Nairobi. [23]

Project Recon

As a PhD student at Stanford, Voss co-led a project called "Project Recon" that used natural language processing to analyze racial disparities in parole hearing transcripts in California. [24] Voss and his team collected and analyzed over 35,000 parole hearing transcripts from the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation (CDCR). [25]

When the CDCR refused to release certain data on inmate race and attorney representation, citing privacy concerns, Voss and his team sued the CDRC to gain access to the data. [26] In 2021, a California Superior Court judge ruled in Voss's favor, ordering the CDCR to release the requested data. [27]

Ello

In 2020, Voss co-founded (with Tom Sayer and Elizabeth Adams) Ello, an AI-powered reading tutor for children, and currently serves as its CTO. [28]

Ello's stated mission is to maximize the potential of every child by providing access to high-quality, personalized reading instruction. [29]

In the summer of 2023, Ello raised a $15.5 million Series A funding round, led by Project A and Goodwater Capital; other funders include Netflix founder Reed Hastings, Ravensburger, and Y Combinator. [30]

In the fall of 2023, Ello was named one of the top 10 AI products for ethical and responsible AI practices by Common Sense Media. [31]

In January 2024, Ello released an all-digital version of the product, which includes a library of over 700 decodable books which align with the Science of Reading. [32] Dr. Tim Shanahan, literacy expert from the University of Illinois at Chicago, joined Ello as an advisor as this shift occurred. [33] [5]

Ello's core technology is a speech recognition model, trained on over 130,000 hours of child speech, that analyzes children's speech in real-time. [34]

Personal Life

Voss lives in San Francisco with his fiancee, Ruby. [35] [36]

List of awards

Patents


Related Research Articles

The Lemelson–MIT Program awards several prizes yearly to inventors in the United States. The largest is the Lemelson–MIT Prize which was endowed in 1994 by Jerome H. Lemelson, funded by the Lemelson Foundation, and is administered through the School of Engineering at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. The winner receives $500,000, making it the largest cash prize for invention in the U.S.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Face detection</span> Identification of human faces in images

Face detection is a computer technology being used in a variety of applications that identifies human faces in digital images. Face detection also refers to the psychological process by which humans locate and attend to faces in a visual scene.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Simon Baron-Cohen</span> British psychologist and author

Sir Simon Philip Baron-Cohen is a British clinical psychologist and professor of developmental psychopathology at the University of Cambridge. He is the director of the university's Autism Research Centre and a Fellow of Trinity College.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Masking (personality)</span> Social process

In psychology and sociology, masking is the process in which an individual camouflages their natural personality or behavior to conform to social pressures, abuse, or harassment. Masking can be strongly influenced by environmental factors such as authoritarian parents, autism, rejection, and emotional, physical, or sexual abuse. Masking can be a behavior individuals adopt subconsciously as coping mechanisms or a trauma response, or it can be a conscious behavior an individual adopts to fit in within perceived societal norms. Masking is interconnected with maintaining performative behavior within social structures and cultures.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Rosalind Picard</span> American computer scientist

Rosalind Wright Picard is an American scholar and inventor who is Professor of Media Arts and Sciences at MIT, founder and director of the Affective Computing Research Group at the MIT Media Lab, and co-founder of the startups Affectiva and Empatica.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Mel Baggs</span> American blogger (1980–2020)

Mel Baggs, was an American non-binary blogger who predominantly wrote on the subject of autism and disability. At times, Baggs used a communication device to speak and referred to themself as a low-functioning autistic. Revelations about Baggs's past created some uncertainty about their diagnosis.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Smart Eye</span> Swedish artificial intelligence company

Smart Eye AB, is a Swedish artificial intelligence (AI) company founded in 1999 and headquartered in Gothenburg, Sweden. Smart Eye develops Human Insight AI, technology that understands, supports and predicts human behavior in complex environments. Smart Eye develops and deploys several core technologies that help gain insights from subtle and nuanced changes in human behavior, reactions and expressions. These technologies include head tracking, eye tracking, facial expression analysis and Emotion AI, activity and object detection, and multimodal sensor data analysis. 

A human microchip implant is any electronic device implanted subcutaneously (subdermally) usually via an injection. Examples include an identifying integrated circuit RFID device encased in silicate glass which is implanted in the body of a human being. This type of subdermal implant usually contains a unique ID number that can be linked to information contained in an external database, such as identity document, criminal record, medical history, medications, address book, and other potential uses.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Andrew Ng</span> American artificial intelligence researcher

Andrew Yan-Tak Ng is a British-American computer scientist and technology entrepreneur focusing on machine learning and artificial intelligence (AI). Ng was a cofounder and head of Google Brain and was the former Chief Scientist at Baidu, building the company's Artificial Intelligence Group into a team of several thousand people.

<i>Trueman Bradley</i> Fictional character

Trueman Bradley is a fictional character in a series of detective novels written by Alexei Maxim Russell. Bradley is characterized as a genius detective with Asperger syndrome.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Yossi Matias</span> Israeli computer scientist

Yossi Matias is an Israeli-American computer scientist, entrepreneur and Google executive. Matias is Vice President, Engineering & Research at Google, and the founding managing director of Google's Center in Israel. He is on the leadership team of Google's Research, the global exec lead overseeing Google’s Health AI, Crisis Response and Climate AI efforts, and leads efforts in Conversational AI. For over a decade he was on the leadership team of Google’s Search, building and leading efforts including Google Trends, Google Autocomplete, Search Console, and Search experiences in weather, sports, dictionaries and more. In 2024 Matias move to Silicon Valley to head Google Research, the company’s global research activity.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Autism-friendly</span> Being aware of factors affecting those with autism

Autism-friendly means being aware of social engagement and environmental factors affecting people on the autism spectrum, with modifications to communication methods and physical space to better suit individual's unique and special needs.

Affectiva is a software development company that created artificial intelligence. In 2021, the company was acquired by SmartEye. The company claimed its AI understood human emotions, cognitive states, activities and the objects people use, by analyzing facial and vocal expressions. The offshoot of MIT Media Lab, Affectiva created a new technological category of Artificial Emotional Intelligence, namely, Emotion AI.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Optical head-mounted display</span> Type of wearable device

An optical head-mounted display (OHMD) is a wearable device that has the capability of reflecting projected images as well as allowing the user to see through it. In some cases, this may qualify as augmented reality (AR) technology. OHMD technology has existed since 1997 in various forms, but despite a number of attempts from industry, has yet to have had major commercial success.

CrowdOptic, Inc. is a privately held San Francisco-based medical technology company founded in 2011. CrowdOptic, led by CEO Jon Fisher, developed augmented reality technology and triangulation algorithms used in medicine, sports, and government that gathers and analyzes data from smart devices based on where they are pointed to identify areas of interest. As of 2016, CrowdOptic remains the only patented solution for wearables like Google Glass and Sony SmartEyeGlass.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Smartglasses</span> Wearable computers glasses

Smartglasses or smart glasses are eye or head-worn wearable computers. Many smartglasses include displays that add information alongside or to what the wearer sees. Alternatively, smartglasses are sometimes defined as glasses that are able to change their optical properties, such as smart sunglasses that are programmed to change tint by electronic means. Alternatively, smartglasses are sometimes defined as glasses that include headphone functionality.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Megvii</span> Chinese technology company

Megvii is a Chinese technology company that designs image recognition and deep-learning software. Based in Beijing, the company develops artificial intelligence (AI) technology for businesses and for the public sector.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Deborah Raji</span> Nigerian-Canadian computer scientist and activist

Inioluwa Deborah Raji is a Nigerian-Canadian computer scientist and activist who works on algorithmic bias, AI accountability, and algorithmic auditing. Raji has previously worked with Joy Buolamwini, Timnit Gebru, and the Algorithmic Justice League on researching gender and racial bias in facial recognition technology. She has also worked with Google’s Ethical AI team and been a research fellow at the Partnership on AI and AI Now Institute at New York University working on how to operationalize ethical considerations in machine learning engineering practice. A current Mozilla fellow, she has been recognized by MIT Technology Review and Forbes as one of the world's top young innovators.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Double empathy problem</span> Psychological theory regarding individuals on the autism spectrum

The theory of the double empathy problem is a psychological and sociological theory first coined in 2012 by Damian Milton, an autistic autism researcher. This theory proposes that many of the difficulties autistic individuals face when socializing with non-autistic individuals are due, in part, to a lack of mutual understanding between the two groups, meaning that most autistic people struggle to understand and empathize with non-autistic people, whereas most non-autistic people also struggle to understand and empathize with autistic people. This lack of understanding may stem from bidirectional differences in communication style, social-cognitive characteristics, and experiences between autistic and non-autistic individuals, but not necessarily an inherent deficiency. Recent studies have shown that most autistic individuals are able to socialize, communicate effectively, empathize well, and display social reciprocity with most other autistic individuals. This theory and subsequent findings challenge the commonly held belief that the social skills of autistic individuals are inherently impaired, as well as the theory of "mind-blindness" proposed by prominent autism researcher Simon Baron-Cohen in the mid-1980s, which suggested that empathy and theory of mind are universally impaired in autistic individuals.

Arnav Kapur is a computer scientist and engineer at MIT. He is known for his work and advocacy in developing AI systems that enhance and complement human abilities.

References

  1. ↑ Schwartz, Saira Hussain, Cara Gagliano, and Adam (2020-08-11). "Victory! Court Orders CA Prisons to Release Race of Parole Candidates". Electronic Frontier Foundation. Retrieved 2024-06-11.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)
  2. ↑ Metz, Cade (2019-07-17). "Google Glass May Have an Afterlife as a Device to Teach Autistic Children". The New York Times. ISSN   0362-4331 . Retrieved 2024-06-11.
  3. ↑ "Checking your browser". www.f6s.com. Retrieved 2024-06-11.
  4. ↑ Forristal, Lauren (2023-09-07). "AI reading coach startup Ello raises $15M to bolster child literacy". TechCrunch. Retrieved 2024-06-11.
  5. 1 2 3 "About Us". www.ello.com. Retrieved 2024-06-11.
  6. 1 2 "Catalin Voss | Lemelson". lemelson.mit.edu. Retrieved 2024-06-11.
  7. 1 2 Palmer, Ross (2021-10-08). "Catalin Voss: Founder of Ello and Silicon Valley Social Entrepreneur". Ross Palmer. Retrieved 2024-06-11.
  8. 1 2 Tanner, Adam (2017-06-14). "19-Year-Old Teaching Your Laptop to Pick Up Your Feelings". Pacific Standard. Retrieved 2024-06-11.
  9. 1 2 "Epicenter: Story - Changing the Way We Use Technology". epicenter.stanford.edu. Retrieved 2024-06-11.
  10. ↑ Stanford 125 (2016-07-28). "Scaling autism's walls: Catalin Voss". Stanford 125. Retrieved 2024-06-11.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: numeric names: authors list (link)
  11. 1 2 "Voss '16 respected in Silicon Valley, founded Sension startup". 2013-10-01. Retrieved 2024-06-11.
  12. ↑ "(GAIA Systems Solutions Inc. Archived 2015-11-23 at the Wayback Machine. Retrieved 8 November 2015.)".
  13. ↑ "Google Glass lives on as a device to teach autistic children | Wu Tsai Neurosciences Institute". neuroscience.stanford.edu. 2023-10-23. Retrieved 2024-06-11.
  14. ↑ Metz, Cade (2019-07-17). "Google Glass May Have an Afterlife as a Device to Teach Autistic Children". The New York Times. ISSN   0362-4331 . Retrieved 2024-06-11.
  15. ↑ University, Stanford. "Autism Glass Project". autismglass.stanford.edu. Retrieved 2024-06-11.
  16. ↑ Metz, Cade. "Clinical Trial Will Test if Google Glass Can Help Kids with Autism". Wired. ISSN   1059-1028 . Retrieved 2024-06-11.
  17. ↑ Press, Associated (2016-06-23). "Google Glass could change the way autistic kids read faces" . Retrieved 2024-06-11.
  18. ↑ "The Wall Lab | Congratulations to Autism Google Glass team for Best Poster award". wall-lab.stanford.edu. Retrieved 2024-06-11.
  19. ↑ digitale@stanford.edu, <img src='https://med stanford edu/news/media-contacts/erin_digitale/_jcr_content/image img 620 high jpg/digitale-erin-90 jpg' alt='Erin Digitale' /> Erin Digitale Erin Digitale is a senior science writer in the Office of Communications Email her at (2017-05-08). "Google Glass helps kids with autism read facial expressions". News Center. Retrieved 2024-06-11.{{cite web}}: |first= has generic name (help)CS1 maint: numeric names: authors list (link)
  20. ↑ "Stanford Medicine licenses Google Glass-based autism tech to Cognoa". MobiHealthNews. 2019-04-10. Retrieved 2024-06-11.
  21. ↑ "Checking your browser". www.f6s.com. Retrieved 2024-06-11.
  22. ↑ "x.com". X (formerly Twitter). Retrieved 2024-06-11.
  23. ↑ "Mastercard: Diligent About Digital In Africa". www.forbesafrica.com. 2019-09-02. Retrieved 2024-06-11.
  24. ↑ "Is Natural Language Processing Ready to Take on Legal Hearings?". hai.stanford.edu. 2021-05-03. Retrieved 2024-06-11.
  25. ↑ "THE RECON APPROACH: A NEW DIRECTION FOR MACHINE LEARNING IN CRIMINAL LAW" (PDF).
  26. ↑ "Petition - Voss v. CDCR". Electronic Frontier Foundation. 2020-08-10. Retrieved 2024-06-11.
  27. ↑ Schwartz, Saira Hussain, Cara Gagliano, and Adam (2020-08-11). "Victory! Court Orders CA Prisons to Release Race of Parole Candidates". Electronic Frontier Foundation. Retrieved 2024-06-11.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)
  28. ↑ "About". Press Releases for Readers of Times of San Diego. Retrieved 2024-06-11.
  29. ↑ "Ello". Y Combinator's Work at a Startup. Retrieved 2024-06-11.
  30. ↑ Forristal, Lauren (2023-09-07). "AI reading coach startup Ello raises $15M to bolster child literacy". TechCrunch. Retrieved 2024-06-11.
  31. ↑ Staff, eSchool News (2023-11-27). "Ello, World's Most Advanced AI Reading Coach Recognized by Common Sense Media as Top AI Tool". eSchool News. Retrieved 2024-06-11.
  32. ↑ "Ello is using AI to write hundreds of e-books to help kids learn to read".
  33. ↑ "Ello Leverages GenAI to Launch the Largest Catalog of Science of Reading Aligned E-Books". Yahoo Finance. 2024-01-23. Retrieved 2024-06-11.
  34. ↑ "Ello is using AI to write hundreds of e-books to help kids learn to read".
  35. ↑ "About Us". www.ello.com. Retrieved 2024-06-11.
  36. ↑ "Top San Francisco Bay Area, CA Kids + Family Companies 2024 | Built In San Francisco". www.builtinsf.com. Retrieved 2024-06-11.
  37. ↑ "Announcement of the 2019 Fellowship Awardees and Highlights from the Google PhD". research.google. Retrieved 2024-06-11.
  38. ↑ "Voss Fact Sheet" (PDF).
  39. ↑ "Stanford seniors' thesis projects garner university medals". news.stanford.edu. Retrieved 2024-06-11.
  40. ↑ "Catalin Voss". Forbes. Retrieved 2024-06-11.
  41. ↑ Robinson, Melissa Stanger, Melia. "40 Under 40: People To Watch In 2015". Business Insider. Retrieved 2024-06-11.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)
This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.