Meet Lewis Johnson

We caught up with the brilliant and insightful Lewis Johnson a few weeks ago and have shared our conversation below.

Lewis, we’re thrilled to have you on our platform and we think there is so much folks can learn from you and your story. Something that matters deeply to us is living a life and leading a career filled with purpose and so let’s start by chatting about how you found your purpose.

Early on I saw that artificial intelligence could make possible a new type of personalized learning technology, that would help people learn much faster and better. It would make personalized learning available to everybody, not just the lucky few who can afford a personal tutor. My story is about making that vision a reality. In the process I found my purpose, which is to help people learn and realize their potential.

Appreciate the insights and wisdom. Before we dig deeper and ask you about the skills that matter and more, maybe you can tell our readers about yourself?

My company, Alelo, uses advanced AI technology, and an understanding of learning science, to help organizations transform their training and education. Alelo develops AI-powered avatars that engage learners in challenging conversations, to help them learn quickly and build self-confidence. People use our avatars to practice communicating with clients, patients, employees and job candidates. We work with companies, higher education institutions, and other organizations to integrate our AI-powered tools into their learning programs.

I started this work at the USC, in response to a challenge from DARPA (the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency). DARPA was looking for solutions to help military personnel quickly learn foreign languages and cultures. We created immersive language learning games in which learners had to speak a foreign language and behave in a culturally appropriate way to succeed at the game. At DARPA’s urging I co-founded Alelo so we could scale up this work. 500,000 military personnel from a variety of countries have used Alelo immersive games to prepare for overseas deployments.

During the COVID pandemic we focused our attention on training healthcare workers. Community health workers practice with avatars playing the role of patients and caregivers. Our work was recognized as one of the winners of the XPRIZE Rapid Reskilling competition.

Thanks to generative AI, we are further expanding the range of learning problems that we can help solve. We are creating “content navigators” for cancer patients, that answer their questions and recommend learning content relevant to their situation. We are even creating an intelligent assistant for fans of Dr. Laura Schlessinger, to direct them to videos and podcasts in which Dr. Laura discusses their particular problems.

In addition to my work in AI and education, I have experience as an opera singer and choral conductor, and appear on stage from time to time. Look for me in a production of “La bohème” with Landmark Opera this fall.

If you had to pick three qualities that are most important to develop, which three would you say matter most?

The most important skill you can have is the ability to learn new skills. As an entrepreneur in a rapidly changing field like AI I am continually learning and upskilling, just like the users of our learning tools.

I have come to understand the importance of good communication. To work with other people you must develop the ability to understand and to be understood.

I have learned the importance of grit and resilience. Entrepreneurship involves trying things and making mistakes, learning from those mistakes, and trying again. Resilience will enable you to keep going until you succeed.

One of our goals is to help like-minded folks with similar goals connect and so before we go we want to ask if you are looking to partner or collab with others – and if so, what would make the ideal collaborator or partner?

We are currently focusing on training and education in healthcare. We are not healthcare experts ourselves; instead, we partner with healthcare experts. If you are involved in healthcare and are interested in the potential of generative AI to help patients, caregivers, and health professionals, visit our website, www.alelo.com, and ask for a demonstration. We would love to talk with you.

Contact Info:

Image Credits

Some images are copyrighted by Alelo Inc. and are used with permission.

Suggest a Story: BoldJourney is built on recommendations from the community; it’s how we uncover hidden gems,
so if you or someone you know deserves recognition please let us know here.
Confidence
Representation from the Eyes of the Representer

Even as there is a growing recognition for the need for representation, there are still

Productivity
Keeping Your Creativity Alive

One of the most challenging aspects of creative work is keeping your creativity alive. If

Leadership Development
From Indecisive to Confident: developing decision-making skills

Indecisiveness is a killer. It can bring even the most promising projects, relationships, and ventures