#204: Transforming ‘meh’ to magic: AI-driven app engagement boosts with Steve Toy, Chief Executive Officer at Memrise

Business of Apps Podcast

How many languages do you know? Would you like learn a new one? Science unequivocally says that it is good for your brain to learn new languages. You will thank us when you’ll be in your 70s or 80s :-) The thing is that on top of immediate benefits, it will help you to keep your brain healthy down the road.

Now, today AI is on the path to impact our lives on so many levels. Learning new languages is one of them and today Steve will tell us about how AI allowed his company to transform their Memrise app dramatically.

Today’s Topics Include:

• Steve's background
• About Memrise
• Ai-driven features that enhanced user engagement on Memrise
• The biggest challenges in integrating AI into Memrise
• Using AI to personalize learning
• Android or iOS?
• Leaving his smartphone at home, what features would Steve miss most?
• What features he would like to see added to his smartphone?

Links and Resources:

• Steve Toy on LinkedIn
• Memrise
• Business Of Apps - connecting the app industry

Quotes from Steve Toy:

"Well, I will tell you that we are probably still working on overcoming the biggest challenge that has been brought to us by all of this amazing technology. And that is unbelievable freedom, right? We now, because of what we've deployed, have given people the freedom to learn the words that matter to them, not the words that we decide in any given course."

"The first axis I alluded to earlier, is heretofore in school or in any course that you might take or in any of the other apps, you learn words in a certain order. Right? You're just marching everybody through the first 100, 200, 500, 1 ,000 words in the same order because you're marching everybody in lockstep to be able to interact with certain content and certain tasks.

But we don't have to do that. We have fully atomized dictionaries because no matter what words you know, we can start to run you into other experiences. And so that's the first level of personalization is let you decide why you want to learn a language."

Host

Business Of Apps - connecting the app industry since 2012