In 2020 when online classes and online meetings had become the norm amidst the COVID-19 pandemic, I’mbesideyou Inc. began offering services that analyzed videos of online communications so that it could help bring about a society where all people respect each other and where every encounter is a learning experience.
These services of I’mbesideyou are already being applied in various situations. Take for example, a service that analyzes videos of online classes and visualizes communications between the instructors and their students to check whether the instructors are providing appropriate instruction. It even leads to improved grades for the students because the analysis helps to improve the teaching content’s quality. I’mbesideyou offers another service that helps businesses to build better relations with their customers by using AI to analyze videos of online business negotiations and identify trends in negotiations that lead to both successful and unsuccessful orders.
Shozo Kamiya, the CEO of I’mbesideyou, joined a major telecommunications company after graduating from university with the vision of working on IT that was said to change the world. Initially, he felt that “it’s IT that will change the world,” but the opinion changed to “it’s children who will change the coming world” when his son was born. Subsequently, he started an education service on the side.
Shozo came to want visualization of the children’s individuality and provision of experiences and services that were tailored to each individual, as he operated the education service. He developed AI that analyzed videos, spurred by the greater ease at which data of each individual’s expressions and voices could be collected through the online communications that had become the norm during the COVID-19 pandemic, and he started a business with his colleagues.
I’mbesideyou is expanding its business at a rapid rate, with cash flowing in as early as a month after the company’s establishment. Aiming to become a global company from the very start of the company, they hired highly skilled engineers who had graduated from Indian Institutes of Technology and is planning a strategy to expand into the West as well as global markets while based in India.
Shozo says, “Many of the problems that people are burdened with are due to relationships. In a world in which people of diverse backgrounds will be connected, there are bound to be more and more people who feel a greater sense of isolation or feel that ‘I’m not understood.’ That’s why I want to analyze communication between people and ultimately offer ‘AI that’s like an old friend,’ one that can understand people and work with them.”
His vision is epic in scope, but everything always starts with his son.
“For me personally, changing society is just a means. I ultimately want society to become one where my son can eventually meet people whom he can respect wherever he goes in the world and they can learn from one another. I believe that’s my responsibility as a parent, and I’m operating a business to make this happen.”
The services of I’mbesideyou and their use will make communication smoother than it is now throughout the world and “transform the whole of society into a school.” It is a future that we can all look forward to.