ladies and gentlemen I hope your day is going beautiful I hope the sun is shining I hope the birds are singing I hope the wind is at your back I got an incredible show for you today if you like ai if you like health and wellness if you like entrepreneurship then I'm going to introduce you to two incredible individuals, Alicia and Julian. They are the innovators and the founders at Maxi AI. And it's more than kind of a buzzword, it's a way of life. And as pioneers committed to revolutionizing business operations, they specialize in crafting bespoke solutions that not only meet current needs, but anticipate future ones. From workflow automation to AI integration, Maxi AI stands at the forefront of driving substantial growth and empowerment. Their journey embodies the very essence of transformation. Transitioning from U.S. government travel and finance consultants to visionary entrepreneurs was more than just a career shift. It was a leap from the mundane to the magnificent. Inspired by the transformative power of the digital world, they founded Maxi AI, a launchpad for freedom. where cutting-edge AI empowers and liberates, turning entrepreneurial dreams into vibrant realities. I want to get into their story today. Alicia, Julian, thank you so much for being here today. How are you? Hello. How are you? Doing great. Going very well. Thank you so much for having us. Yeah, the pleasure's all mine. Before we got started, we were both talking, we were all talking a little bit about the future we see coming and AI. However, before we get into the depth of the conversation, I just wanted to take a minute and I'll start with you, Alicia. Maybe you can give a little bit of background on where you were and how you kind of got to starting this relationship with Julian and starting this Maxi AI and maybe a little bit about you, a little bit of background first, then we'll hop over to Julian and get his backstory. Of course, of course. Well, where do I start, right? So I would say it's been about two years since I've been looking into entrepreneurship and trying to find, trying to connect my passion with my talents to grow in a tech industry or basically any industry that, you know, I can see myself growing in. So when I was working for the government these past couple of years now, I just found that something was missing. I found like I had a bigger purpose. I'm really passionate about travel as well. So I was trying to figure out how can I do travel and help people and grow as myself as an individual. So I was just, it was a fly by night situation. I went to a networking event and then I met Julian and we just really hit it off as far as friends first. And then when it came to the brainstorming idea, as far as we're both passionate about being entrepreneurs and getting our time back, especially in the society that we live in, which I strongly held to my responsibility, especially as a woman in today's age, we're doing a lot as entrepreneurs. But Julian has been the best partner, I would say, business-wise and personal-wise, because we both have the idea of how can we take tech and how can we create our similar mission to create something that is not just a service, but it's a foundation that we can be service to people and then build other streams of income off of this foundation. Right. And then getting into the I would say health and wellness side is something that we're both really passionate about as far as my background. working for the government, I was trying to figure out how can I take my health care and look for a holistic approach. But there was very limited resources and people that I was able to reach out to or get responses from. So just being in this industry and having this conversation with you is amazing. And I'm excited to get more insights on providing more opportunity for people that are looking for the holistic health. And also back to AI as well, I would say we're about empowering and educating, lifting businesses to new heights. When we started building this foundation, we looked at our past lives, struggling, trying to make ends meet with jobs and trying to put our passion together with our talents and trying to figure out where we fit in. But it's like we have to create our own journey. We fit in what we're creating. And we want to create that hope for people as well. So AI definitely put us at the forefront. We're like, this is the answer, right? We're like, AI is very cost effective. It's saving us a lot of time and money just to put ourselves out there, especially in the business world. A lot of people spend thousands of dollars trying to get their brand and their marketing out there on social media. We go by the motto, it's not really what you know, it's who you know, and creating that foundation, creating that community. I would say I love working with dreamers, whether you're a startup, a small business, an enterprise, voice for big changes. We're here to help you harness the power of AI for Transformers results. Our approach is getting to know our clients and to know your unique challenges and your big ambitions and see the value that we can bring to that type of client. We're here to simplify your processes, improve your customer interactions and help you reach a global audience. We want to, as a team, expand globally and help our clients. clients expand globally as well. I feel like that's enough about me. I'll let Julian take over, but just a little bit about me and I would say my mission and Julian's mission as well, especially in the growing in the AI space. Wow. Well, I got goosebumps. That's beautiful. I love every part of that. The foundation of relationships and the Ariadne thread of the tapestry that brings together all of us is this idea of dreams. Julian, I don't know what else you can add to that, man, but maybe give us some of that background and follow up on that. That's beautiful, man. Yeah, that's a tough act to follow, right? It is. Yes. I would say a little bit about me. I was born and raised in New Jersey. I went to undergrad and studied in D.C. And it was there that I kind of experienced a kind of a radical paradigm shift for myself mentally. You know, initially I was in school, I believe, for biology and looking to do medicine. And it wasn't until I kind of got the experience of being outside of my frame of reference, i.e. like my hometown, I was able to kind of see things through a different light and kind of explore myself and learn what really makes me tick. And for a while, I've had a passion for entrepreneurship. Even when I was in college, you know, just the idea of it alone was so mind blowing to me that, you know, you could create something, create value for others, whether that be a product or a service. And you can really, you know, you can really change things for other people as well as yourself and really, you know, build an empire, so to speak. So I've always been passionate about entrepreneurship and business. In particular, one of my first business ventures was a small lifestyle brand for health and wellness. I was doing supplements like sea moss, black seed oil, things like that, and really kind of urging people to take their health into their own hands. And from there, I kind of realized I had a bigger passion for business itself and not so much of the lens that I was looking at business through, which was the supplements. And that kind of segued into things like web design, doing websites, logos, things of that nature, anything I could do to kind of make a business shine more and to bring more clients to them at the end of the day. And then I met Alicia, as she said, and we were both looking to kind of explore a new path when it comes to business and our lifestyle. And we were looking to like our main mission was to be able to offer massive value to businesses that could, you know, either increase the revenue, save them time, save them energy or, you know, make their processes more efficient. And as Alicia said, AI kind of just stood out as the vehicle for us to do that um so we've kind of kind of began rapidly educating ourselves about ai um what it's bringing to the table how it's transforming the business landscape um and things of that nature and the rest is history to be honest so we're extremely passionate about the opportunity that we have with ai um to bring a new level of value I'd say to businesses and even individuals Yeah, that's really well said. And I always love to get the backstory to get a glimpse of a lot of times you can see the transformation in someone's story. It's almost like a mythology. And when I hear this transition from this guy that started over here and then had the ability to put on this new set of lenses to not only see the world differently, but see himself differently. It's like, oh, this guy's on the hero's journey over here. You know what I mean? And changing the world, man. I love it. It's fascinating to me. So when we talk about AI, it's interesting because I think that on some levels, different generations see AI differently. If you were born before 1986, you're kind of a person who learned the world through words. And if you're born after 86, you kind of see the world through imagery. And I think the two of you have a very unique perspective with Maxi AI. And before we dive into exactly what it is you're going to do with it, I'm curious if each one of you could kind of give me how you see the world changing with the advent of AI. Anyone can take that. I'll jump in. Go ahead. Sorry, Lisa. And I like to piggyback off of what you said in terms of the perspective between generations, because I think that's something that needs to be vocalized. You know, Alicia and myself, and I'll speak for myself primarily, I was born in 1991, right? So I was able to see dial-up internet. I was able to see chat rooms. I was able to see the advent of the internet and kind of being able to, I'd say, straddle two worlds, right? I was used to a world where my mom was printing out MapQuest maps, you know, to take us on family trips. But then we were also getting introduced to, like I said, the internet, AOL, things of that nature. So I kind of, I'd say, been ingrained in technology for most of my life and always being passionate about the opportunities that it presents. so I say with ai it's it's kind of insane to me how it's changing the world but also business um particularly with uh what we're used to generative ai you know which is kind of the most people are familiar with chat gpt and its ability to generate information via um what they call an llm or a large language model meaning it's just a system programmed with Uh, as many words and as much information as possible, leaving the system to be able to piece together, you know, bits of information from whatever prompt that you're giving it. Um, so I'd say from the perspective of generative AI, it's changing business because. You know, most businesses we've been used to the run of the mill, let's say chat box, where you can have a little chat assistant that sits on your website, um, but can only really ask certain questions or gain certain information. But now we're dealing with a technology that allows us to have, I say, conversational agents for a multitude of different purposes, right? So when it comes to business, you can transform your customer support, your customer service, rather, I'm sorry, with a customer support agent that it doesn't, you know, it doesn't work eight hours a day or 27 or 24 hours a day. And it doesn't need a bathroom break. It doesn't it doesn't have errors that most humans have. So I'd say it's really changing the way business is done because it's allowing the business owner to focus on driving the growth of the business. And I'd say working on the business more than working in the business. And it's kind of changing the landscape for entrepreneurs or solopreneurs because, you Now you don't have to hire a dedicated marketing team or a dedicated customer support team, but you can give these roles and these tasks to AI that can handle it with double the efficiency and at half the cost. I'd say that's a major way that we're seeing AI change business is that You know, you don't have to be a one man bandstand anymore in the classical sense, but you can be a solopreneur and have all of these different roles filled with as much efficiency and I'd say scaling ability as, you know, a big enterprise. So I think one of the big things about AI is we're able to bring enterprise level solutions to smaller and medium sized businesses that can't afford, you know, that $25,000, $50,000 price mark to just have AI implemented into their systems. Yeah. It's well said. And it speaks to the idea of simultaneously leveling the playing field while setting the bar higher. You know, it's, it's interesting to think how that plays out. Right. Yes. Very, very well spoken. Yeah. You know, I, um, I'm so curious now. I was trying to draw it out for the audience and kind of lead people. But let's get into Maxi AI. Is it something that is sort of like a Swiss army knife? Is it something that you can come to me and say, hey, George, I know you're the solopreneur. I know you've got this stuff going on. Here's these different things that we can provide for you right now. And also, we're open to ideas because we believe that we can provide almost anything you need. Or is it something that's tailored to... marketing is it tailored to you know uh efficiency or effectiveness or productivity or is it all these things together what maybe you could take that alicia what what is maxi am you can define it for us and is it something tailored to something or is it like a swiss army knife or what is it yeah of course um I would say it's tailored based solutions uh designed to enhance like you know any businesses operations Go their customer base, foster innovation and enable like rapid scaling for their business. I would say our systems and our developers that we work with, they're designed to deliver results worldwide, breaking down barriers and driving success to our clients no matter where they are. So when we're talking about expanding globally, we're speaking about, you know, people, the internet is huge. The AI is creating a huge market for anyone to start a business, right? And I really, I'm really passionate about like that, the main reason for people to have their freedom or take their time back. by taking advantage of these AI solutions, right? So I would say basically we are open to any business as far as not being too general, but we're kind of just letting the niches come to us instead of us going out there to get on just a really popular fat like digital marketing or e-commerce yes of course people are making um a lot of headway and money in that business but we want to have like a purpose behind what we're doing and who we're working with and what type of tailor-made solutions are we making work uh making for each specific niche. So I would definitely say we're more open in general to working with medium to small or either enterprises and looking at their business from head to toe and seeing what type of exact value that we can add to their business where we're hitting their pinpoints, where Having this unimaginable solution that is going to change their mindset or solve a problem within their business, holding them back, heading to that certain revenue growth or hitting that certain target market that they're looking for. Yeah, it's really well said. It almost sounds to me like you guys are like a fractional sort of consulting team that can come in and take a whole holistic approach to what's going on and maybe even sort of have this ability to translate generational ideas back and forth. But Julian, what are some of the problems you guys have solved for some of your existing clients? So for our existing clients, so our last project was with a digital marketing firm. And they craft these very elaborate and detailed marketing plans for brands. So with them, they expressed to us that it was taking them roughly between, I believe it was 10 to 20 hours to create these marketing plans for these different businesses and brands. So we were actually able to create a custom GPT. And a little, I guess, reference there uh the open ai platform when they upgraded to gpt plus or gpt4 they allowed the creation of custom gpts meaning you can make these mini versions of chat gpt um that you train to perform a certain function or speak from a certain perspective um that can kind of uh give you output that's a little more detailed for that specific uh use case right so for this uh marketing firm we were able to create a custom gpt that cut the time down for them creating these marketing plans uh from 10 to 20 hours to between one and five hours so um you know the custom gpt will prompt uh the user to give them notes from their consultation call with the client and from there it takes that information and it kind of jump starts the process of developing this detailed marketing plan so they can kind of just come in and fine-tune it rather than having to build it from the ground up um and that's more so for an internal process um and then uh one of our earliest clients was for a bit more creative project um we were able to use text-to-image prompting to develop a one-of-one 3d avatar mascot for this travel agency um you know they were looking for kind of a way to revamp their marketing and something that was visually stimulating that they could kind of apply on the website and social media um so we were able to kind of uh get under the hood with a tool we use called mid journey very popular um text to image creator um and we kind of followed their uh plan and their their vision to a t and we're able to create this like I said one of one kind of bespoke character for them um and then another uh kind A couple of projects that we're working on now feature a tool of ours that's kind of popular in what I was speaking on before, the conversational agents. So we do lead generation agents for websites where, let's say, a service-based business like a digital marketing firm or a copywriter or even an accountant, these are service-based businesses that rely on leads being qualified to know if they're a good fit for their service. So we implement a lead generation assistance, so to speak, where when you pop onto this website of the service-based business, it's kind of going to interact with you and see what you're looking for if you need more information on what the service is they can provide you answers to frequently asked questions then they can also go through kind of a list of qualifying questions that see if you're a good fit for the service or not um and the cool thing about these agents are um you know unlike your run-of-the-mill chatbot where it's just kind of a dialogue we can have these agents perform action so let's say they are a good fit for your your course or your program The agent can book the appointment directly. It can send the information to a CRM or to our spreadsheet or begin an automated email campaign. So that's another big one that we're working on right now with a couple of people in our pipeline. But that's kind of the bulk of our work is that conversational aspect. And we've even been able to kind of jump into the voice conversational agents. So let's say you have a call center that takes inbound or outbound calls. We can now set up a voice agent that's very organic, very human-like. and can collect the same information and even engage in conversation in a very nuanced and organic way, thanks to running it through GPT-4. So I would say that those are some of our bigger projects that we've had so far and are kind of currently working on. It's exciting to me. It's so cool to get to see from where I sit, like it sounds awesome. And it seems to me one of the cool things about entrepreneurship is being able to flesh out your ideas in real time and see them work and see some of them need some twisting and some turning. But the incredible amount of learning that happens when you're able to have the lived experience of trying out ideas in real time and seeing the success in that, I think that that's where... all of us need to be is this area of creativity and I think we're moving in that direction maybe you could speak to that at least like what is it like to be trying out your ideas in real time I would have to say it's definitely a journey. It's very interesting. So I would say the people that we meet with a whole bunch of people in different age groups, like where, you know, they're at the beginning stages where there's a more innovative people that are willing to adopt the technology and then people that are more established in the later stages of their business where they already have the operations going, but they could use a little tiny bit of tweaking, right? So, yeah, it's interesting to see the influx of the excitement of the people are like, oh, yeah, yeah, ready to go. Going to save me money. And then the people that are kind of more attached to their business, they've been in business for five to ten plus years. You know, they're entrepreneurs. I mean, you know, at the grid every single day. But something is just not clicking. Something is still missing. And when we have these conversations, you're like, oh, yeah. AI can solve this issue that I've been trying to solve for like five years. So it's been very like, it's been very like heartfelt, like, okay, we're actually, you know, making a difference in this person's business that can, you know, make a difference in their lifestyle. So I've been kind of having like an emotional pull when we go in and we have these certain conversations where like, We're really making an impact on this person's business by doing just a little here and there tweaks because, you know, we've been doing this for a while. So it's easy, easy for us, but for the people that are, you know, when we come in, we want to educate them first on exactly what AI is and like, you know, how that fits within their business and then go on to say like, okay, this is how we can take this issue and fix it with AI. So it's been like a rollercoaster journey, I would say. Yeah. It's been exciting. Being an entrepreneur, I would say it's a challenge, but it's a positive and optimistic challenge. I would never go back to the norm. It's definitely not for the weak. It's definitely for the strong. I like to be in control of my self-being as far as being an entrepreneur. I want people to have the same opportunity to get their time back and live out their life on their own terms. We're in a stage now where We're making connections online. We're communicating through the internet. And that's how things are happening. That's how people's lifestyles are changing. That's how content is being created to reach a certain target audience. So I would definitely say it's been an amazing journey. And just to see what we're doing and how we're doing it and the conversations that we're having is It's making us stronger as well as individuals and especially working together. Julia and I have definitely different types of skill sets and different talents when it comes to AI and the everyday base to base. But we work very well together on harnessing the to do list or harnessing our power together to make sure we provide the right results or make sure that the value fits with the clients that we're speaking to. So eventually we'll get over the hump where the people in those five to 10 year businesses are like, okay, I don't have a choice. My hands are going up. Let's adopt AI. So yeah, it's definitely been a good journey though. I definitely have to say, and I'm very excited. Very blessed, very grateful that we're in a space now where we've been using AI all our lives, like Julian was saying, since 1991, 1993 I was born. I grew up with computers and the iPods, you know, and to see AI now transforming people's businesses and we're in this space, we're just very grateful and blessed that this just fell into our lap and now we're living out our purpose and we're on a mission to make sure that we can, you know, transform people's businesses. Yeah, it's beautiful. I think it speaks to the idea of mission statements. And when I hear both of you start talking about people getting their time back, I feel like for so long, so many of us have been trapped in this legacy system where you get up and you leave everything you love to go work for a handful of dimes that will pretend to buy you some happiness for a short amount of time. And that just doesn't work anymore. It's a system that doesn't really reward happiness. creativity, individuality, the true nature of sacrifice. You get up and you leave the people you love. You know what I mean? You're going to leave them? For what? It should be something that you're passionate about. And I can see it in both of you when you start beginning to talk about what you're working on. And I want to drop this one on you. When you think, Julian, you spoke a lot about building these different models for different companies. And I'm curious to kind of get into the nuance of that. It almost seems like you are building a sort of psychological profile for a business to match one another. What do you think about that? Is that too far out there? What's your thoughts on that? No, that's pretty spot on. And I'd like to say, you know, because... the question you asked earlier you know are we like a swiss army knife it can appear that way because we really like to come in and do a lot of listening when we're meeting initially with the business really getting a feel for their day-to-day process the sales process the marketing process all of these different workflows that the business is engaging in on a day-to-day basis um that really either drives revenue for them or keeps the business afloat um and from that standpoint uh we all we do operate as a consultancy where you know we have to figure out what a automation looks like for you in particular um and for most people it's that they're looking to drive more revenue without having to put in double the work right because like you said that's that's also kind of an outdated paradigm is that more work gets you more success you know it's kind of like We're in a day and age where you have to work smarter versus harder, right? It's like it doesn't require more physical labor possibly to scale, but maybe just increasing your systems and leveraging current technology. So I would say like we pride ourselves in really getting into the nitty gritty of a business and figuring out what can be done that can benefit you, that can save you that time, save you a couple of dollars, but at the same time kind of double your efficiency double your ability to scale and keep you growing and allowing you to focus on the business. So I'd say that's kind of, it is like you said, we're kind of figuring out the psychological profile of the business and the business owner to see what they're looking to achieve. Cause we're big on, you know, selling the vacation and not the plane, the flight, so to speak. You know, I'm sure you've heard of Alex Ramosi. That's a big tenant of his is, you know, we like to kind of put in the forefront of the focus, the results we're gonna achieve for the business and not so much that it is AI, but that the results that we're gonna get you are gonna be using AI. So it might be, we're looking to increase your revenue, we're looking to increase the amount of leads you get per month, but we like to focus on that end result of what is that desired outcome that the business owner is looking for and what are the pain points that are preventing them from getting there and then kind of using AI as the bandaid for those pain points. And to both said, do you feel that there's, there are some similarities in those pain points or are, have you found a pattern in those pain points with the people you've been working with? Yeah. I mean, you know, business, it's one of those things where business is business. So, you know, a lot of businesses are dealing with the same issues. Um, if they're a service based business, they're obviously looking to get more leads in that are qualified. They're looking to get more visibility on what they're doing. So nine times out of 10, they are very similar problems, but the nature of how they're solved kind of is more contingent on what that business is. So it might be a difference in how they acquire clients, whether that's on a website, whether they're doing cold outreach by phone calls. So the problems that exist are essentially similar, but the solutions are kind of very different according to whatever the business and industry is. It's fascinating to me to think about that on a global scale. You know, it's one of the cool things it seems to me about the future is the ability to tap into the to the global nature of the human condition. And I think AI on some level reflects the individual cultures of the places where we live. And I'm curious if you could maybe just kind of take that as a shotgun out the back door and it's kind of a wide topic, but what's your take on AI being seen different around the world or in your opinion, is it seen different around the world or is it seen as like a sort of leveling tool or what are your thoughts on that? Well, Go ahead. No, it's okay. No, no. I mean, I have like a lot to say as far as global, because like that's, I'm really passionate about like, you know, global exposure, especially to this type of technology. From my experience and what I've been speaking with clients and the technology that we're exposed to today, when you look at countries like innovative countries, like the UAE, Dubai, and like other countries like Japan and like Bangkok, They're way advanced technology than the actual United States, right? So when we're looking at AI as a global construct, it's just a matter of time where other countries are going to see, okay, let's adopt this technology into our system base and see how that works. When you look at the tools, there's this amazing tool out there. I'll definitely send it to you later. Yeah. there's tools out there where you can create your own ai avatar even as yourself and you can speak in a completely different language and communicate with anyone from anywhere in the globe by you know exposing them to their own language so I think that's just the start of the communication uh when it comes to um I would say relating to that person of that specific culture and speaking their language and creating that connection naturally just by using an AI tool. Even though you don't speak that language, you can use that tool and be at the forefront of being in front of that person and closing a deal or even just communicating with them. So I would say that's just an amazing start so far. And then I could just see it growing and growing and growing as far as there's not really a language barrier anymore when we have certain meetings or We're creating certain content to reach a wider audience globally when we are picking a language or picking a specific country to showcase that too. So I see it growing that way where it's like, okay, there's not really any more excuses when we want to do global business because we know the language through AI. So I feel like that's just the main start, I would say. And then I just see it growing all over the world, honestly, technology. is becoming much more advanced. They're building like robots and device. So that should be interesting. One place I definitely aspire to visit and see how they're using AI to their advantage down there as well. But I feel like the more innovative globally that we see, these other countries are getting other people and start catching on too. And they'll be able to have more access to these AI tools as well, depending on their demographic. Yeah, it's fascinating to me. Well, I think you were going to say something on that too, Julian. What's your take on the whole developing AI and seeing it culturally? Um, yeah, I think it's interesting, um, because I think we're still, it's still so early for AI, right? It's like, we're kind of at ground zero of really understanding what it is, what it can be used for, what it can do for us. Um, and I think it's interesting to see how different countries are kind of, um, either welcoming it or kind of shying away from it. As Alicia said, um, countries like the UAE, um, you know, we see a lot of innovation happening over there with AI. and them kind of including it into a lot of different facets of life. Whereas here in America, I feel like people are still a little bit weary of it. We've had conversations about AI where most people bring up Terminator where they're like, oh, it's going to take over. And to other people who are like, it's going to replace people's jobs and so on and so forth. So it's interesting to me the different perspective that different countries have over AI. And I think it's very early. I think AI is kind of shaping the perspective that people are having day by day because of the advancements that are coming out so fast, you know, and this is one of those industries where, you know, me and Alicia, our heads spend sometimes because every day there's a new advancement, there's a new model, right? There's a new capability. So I personally think it's interesting at, how countries are kind of reacting to that and the speed that they're adopting AI with. I think the percentage right now in America, at least for businesses, is about 13 to 16% of businesses are early adopters. So they're open and actively integrating AI technology. And then kind of after that, you have the late adopters. And then even I think the last category would be considered laggards, people who are fighting tooth and nail to implement AI technology. but I think we have a lot of like kind of big names, even from the U S kind of backing AI. Like Mark Cuban was quite a recently saying that if you're a business owner and you're not going to adopt AI, you know, you're looking at a lot of obstacles because there's so many companies and businesses that are integrating this technology that kind of widens the gap when it comes to competition, so to speak of just, you know, keeping up with the current state of the art and state of the market. You know, I think AI is something that you, that it's becoming more, it's becoming more relevant for people to adopt than not to adopt. So I think just watching kind of that play out is interesting to me as far as, you know, global markets. Yeah, it's well said. It brings up the idea of relationships, you know, and when I think about, your relationship with media or your relationship with anything in your life, it's sort of like what you, the ideas and the energy that you put into that relationship are going to be the dividends that come out of it. You know, if you're going to put in something negative into a relationship or some sort of a negative feedback loop, some people, I know some people have like this depression or anxiety because they're always telling themselves, well, this bad thing's gonna happen. But the same thing with AI, if you're gonna feed it all this negative stuff, it's probably gonna show you negative stuff. And I'm curious, do you like, this is kind of a philosophical question and I'll get both. I'll start with Julian, then I'll move to Alicia, but do you have a preference on the, on the acceleration to break? You know what I mean? Like some people like Shkreli are like, listen, man, we got to get everything out there and we got to build all this stuff. And you have some really big tech owners like, Hey man, take it easy. We don't want like this crazy virus going out, but do you have a take on, on, on the acceleration versus the slowdown Julian? Yeah, I think we definitely have to be responsible with it, with this being a new technology. I like to model it after the internet when it came out. A lot of people were confused about the internet. There were people who wanted nothing to do with it. There were people who thought only weirdos hang out on the internet. For a while there, people were afraid to put credit cards information into a web browser, but little did we know that's the standard of how we do business today. It's like, it's so ingrained in business, but back then people didn't really see that they were very confused. I think it's kind of the same thing right now where there are a lot of risks involved with it. If we, if we keep taking it a step further, I guess, so to speak, with what we're using AI for and the power that we're giving it. But I think that there needs to be a balance in how we're acclimating to this technology, because to get philosophical, and Alicia will tell you, I'm a huge fan of philosophy and just conversations about metaphysics and different implications that things have on a spiritual level. But I think we're currently at a standpoint in our culture, and I'd say on the globe, where we've kind of allowed technology to outpace our spiritual and our personal development, where technology is consistently ramping up. But the question is, the people who control the technology, are we growing at an equal rate? And I think that's a big question that we have to consider when it comes to AI is, like you said, the AI and the technology can only reflect where we're at as a race and as a species, right? So I think that it's increasingly important that we're seeing this gap kind of widening of our evolution and the evolution of technology and kind of addressing that and saying, hey, we need to make sure that there's certain values and certain parameters, I'd say, that go along with AI so that it doesn't end up in the worst case scenario where it becomes a detriment to us rather than a benefit. I think that that's a conversation that needs to be had is, are we giving it kind of the attention that it needs in terms of what it can do and kind of keeping it in certain parameters? Yeah, that's wonderful. Alicia, what's your take on that? yeah I would say to bounce off what julian said uh we have to make sure it's not in the wrong hand so the terminator doesn't come a thing right yeah yeah so I i definitely agree with julian saying where it's like you know you have your positives and your negatives when it comes to this technology and putting it in the wrong hands and putting it in the right hands so for example I'm pretty sure we all see the movie wally the disney movie So I love to use that example because that's a movie where it's showing how AI took over a whole colonization and people are just comfortable eating and drinking out of a cup and becoming obese. But where's the production there? As a new life and they're going to a new planet, how are they supposed to procreate? How are they supposed to communicate besides being on a screen? So it's definitely the way that you look at it, and it's the way that we're trying to collaborate and move with technology and grow with it, where we're not totally depending on technology, but it is helping us get to the next step. It is innovating us. It's making us get outside more or be more of a people person by speaking about technology or AI. So I would say definitely agree with what Julian said. We just have to be careful growing with it and not letting it take over our whole lives where we're depending on technology for everything, for shopping. When you look at Uber Eats, when you look at getting your groceries delivered, When these things came out, my mind was blown because I love going to the grocery store. So I was just like, okay, this is cool, but is it really that necessary? But it is for some people, right? But it's definitely the way when you're looking at spirituality and the human connection, we just have to be mindful of of the technology that we're using and be mindful of the fact that like it's here to help us but I don't think as like a human race we should depend on it all the way for our everyday needs I feel like that's really important that we make sure that we still you know we remind ourselves we're still human and we like to live our lives but at the same time technology is always going to be there yeah I love it I love these conversations it in my in my opinion I feel like it's almost like a mirror of us. And when you see these things play out, you're like, that's us. Like when it's super scary, like you should be afraid because that's you. Like some part of you recognizes that bad idea because you thought of it before. You know what I mean? Like, oh, I shouldn't do that. I should not think that. I should never say that again. You know, the AI seems to me, I look at it as a tool that's educating all of us rapidly. Like, wow, these are really bad ideas. This is a really dumb, we've done this for how long? It's a dumb idea. We should try something new over here. And it's on some level, when I think about acceleration, you know, I do agree there has to be a balance and you have to be careful, but some of the people that are really worried about, like, this is going to, some guy's going to create a virus that kills everybody. Like, I look at the guy that says that, and I'm like, that's the guy that would do it. That guy right there. Exactly. It's so crazy. Where are you getting this idea from? Okay, someone get that guy out of here. Can you go over there, right? Cut that guy off. And he had too many drinks. Yeah. Oh, go ahead. So yeah, I was just going to say, as far as the like experimenting, I was discussing this with you the other day, right? So when it comes to psychedelics and micro dosing and things like that, what if you're able to take a group of digital marketers, right? There's a bunch of digital marketer agencies and you each gave them a micro dose of psychedelics. Let's see what happens, right? Let's see what they can develop with AI. Let's see what type of brainstorm they can do for like their purpose and see how that works. Because I feel like once you compare the human mind, the human body and technology, the possibilities are endless. As long as, you know, everyone's on the same page and not trying to create a Terminator robot. I feel like there's a lot of good that can come with balancing psychedelics, community and AI technology and seeing where that can lead to innovation and elevating. And even when we get into AI fixing global warming and climate change and poverty, there's so many possibilities that can happen when we create these communications and these communities. That's well said. Julian, I know you're going to jump in here. All of a sudden, we're moving into the world of psychedelics and technology, which are part and parcel. Julian, what you got for me, man? Hit me. Yeah, I'd say that's a facet of my journey as well is I've had a handful of amazing experiences with plant medicine. I say specifically psilocybin and even cannabis, some very revealing experiences. And something that you mentioned a second ago with the technology being a mirror to us, I'm a real big believer in We live in a mirroring universe or a mirroring world, right, where nine times out of 10, you're you're dealing with in your personal life, your inner state being reflected on the screen of your reality. And I'd say psychedelics and plant medicines were kind of instrumental in me noticing that intrinsic connection between myself and kind of reality is that, you know, life isn't happening to me, but it's happening through me. determining what's playing out on the screen of my reality. But I say psychedelics also for me were very, very revealing when it comes to trauma that I had within that I hadn't addressed before. And that was kind of just resting within and kind of shaping my belief system about the world and about certain experiences and results that I was getting. And it really kind of allowed me to do a deep dive within myself and kind of seeing all these connections and how contingent my reality was on some of these things like my interstate. So I'd say psychedelics for me, I'm a huge advocate, of course, and being responsible with them as well. Like I was always a fan of the microdose, right? Like the microdose for me was enough to kind of get my juices flowing, but also put me in that flow state that really let me get in tune with myself and get under the hood of what was going on. yeah I've spoken to so many people in this field that speak about the power of plant medicine and in in the in the container of medicine it seems to allow the individual to look at their thoughts without judgment and a lot of the times we've done something in the past we beat ourselves up over and we never forget or maybe it's something that someone did to us or maybe it's something that someone did to our dad or our mom and we've carried that with us forever You know, when you speak to this idea of generational trauma and there's tons of incredible papers and incredible people out there that are doing the research and doing the work to figure out why, you know, how can I see myself differently? And in your story, you know, I see I started, you know, I work with these medicines and now I'm working with this technology and I can't help but see the crossover here. It's like once you're free from these limiting beliefs, now you're able to create abundance, not only in your life, but help other people see it. It almost seems like it's that next step forward. It's fascinating to think about. We got Thomas Hutchison over here. First off, Thomas Hutchinson, you are an amazing individual. How come you haven't got back to me yet? When are you coming on this podcast? I love this guy. He says, on the topic of technology, or is it driving us? Holding the torch to cast the shadows on the wall that we all long after. Obviously talking about Plato and the cave and the shadows. What should you guys take? Anyone want to take that one? Alicia, you want to start with that one? Oh, sure. I would say there's different ways that you can look at this, right? I wouldn't say it's completely driving us, but it's all like you were saying, it all has to do with your upbringing and generational trauma and life. Life hits us, everybody, you know, everyone goes through certain stuff in their life. So it's all depending on are you going to let technology control your everyday lifestyle, getting up every morning on Instagram? What's the purpose of that, right? So there's been studies and documentaries speaking about how social media is changing kids mindsets and things like that so there's those studies there and then us as adults we us growing up in technology we should know better right yeah as far as using it to our advantage but there's a lot of people out there that are letting technology and social media construct their everyday decisions construct their mindset or limiting their beliefs as far as thinking that they're not capable of living a certain lifestyle or you know taking that leap to being an entrepreneur So it's definitely different ways, depending on the person and their upbringing and how they think about their selves and their self-esteem to say, is technology really driving me or am I driving technology to my advantage? So it's all about, I would say, the mindset. When I look at technology, I have to say social media. I'm inspired by the social media influencers. I give my hats off to them. But personally, I can't sit there on my phone for an hour and start scrolling. especially if it's not relevant information. But for the people that are on there, TikTok, Instagram, I give my hats off to you being on this platform, doing the content, spending hours on content. More power to you. If you need AI for help, we're here to help you. But I would definitely say... It definitely depends on the person. We want to control the way that we look at social media and technology, the way that we're using it, not letting technology control us in our everyday lives. We want to use it to our advantage, not let it construct our mindset and our self-being. Yeah. You want to add anything to that, Julian? What do you take? Yeah, I think Alicia's on to something there. I think it's a question of uh the user right it's kind of a case-by-case basis to you know we kind of have to constantly ask ourselves that like is the technology driving us or are we driving it um and I think um I think it depends on the person and I think it depends on the perspective you have with uh the place that technology has in your life um even you know being an ai like alicia touched on I don't think we can ever replace um anything with ai I think that it's always gonna require human collaboration and I think that's That's where we're going to get the best results out of it. But I think I think we have to be wary of letting it drive us. I think we have to kind of be on the offensive and make sure we're driving the technology to a place that's beneficial for everybody, you know, and not something that is becoming a detriment to us. Yeah, that's really well said. And I love live streaming. I love talking to people. And I feel like the live stream conversation in itself is almost like an altered state of awareness. Like everyone's here, even though I can't reach out and slap you on the back or I can't really... B, smell your pheromones, stuff like that. I still feel being in the zone and talking to people allows you to come up with ideas that you wouldn't have before. And so far, in just this last little exchange, it makes me realize we're transforming from a consumer economy to a creator economy. And we're seeing the first stages of that. For so long when I was growing up, you know, it was, Hey, we're going to move all these jobs to overseas and we're going to be, we're going to be a consumer economy. Well, that's dying. And you look at people that are creating now and not everybody who's a creator is making a living. In fact, most creators are struggling out there and they're on the front lines hammering. And if you're doing it, Never, ever give up. If you're creating right now, you are on the front lines and being really early sometimes looks a lot like being really wrong. Never, ever give up. Follow your passion, your creativity. You'll crush it. It may not seem like it, but you will. And when I think about screen time or influencers or consuming... There's a big difference between screen time before consuming content, like just doom scrolling for like three hours and being impregnated with these silly ideas or creating stuff, coming on, doing a live stream, meeting other people, putting out content, getting your ideas out there, working with AI. And I want to get both of your opinions on this idea. I'm going to start with you this time, Julian, the creator economy versus the consumer economy. What are your thoughts? Yeah, I think you hit the nail on the head. I think we're in the full throes of what people call a content economy, right? Where it's just like, it's like everybody has something of value to bring to the table and to bring to the conversation. And, you know, I think we're coming into this shift of realizing that everybody has a very unique perspective on, it doesn't matter if it's health, wealth, relationships, everybody has a unique set of experiences that allow them to do certain things about the nature of the problem or the topic that I think is equally valuable. So I think we're coming into a time where this technology, social media, it's making it easier for people to express themselves creatively and as kind of an authority on whatever it is they're into in a way that wasn't really possible um you know in in prior years and I think it's a wonderful opportunity and like you said I'm in agreeance with you to you know if you're creating and if you're bringing something to the table that's unique you know you have to keep going and you have to see it through because um you know there like you said there are people who make a very good living at content creating at just simply sharing their opinion. And, you know, I see people all the time on social media where it's like, you don't need to be teaching people how to make a million dollars a year. You could be teaching people how to fold their laundry more efficiently or teaching somebody how to be more present with their pets or in their relationship. And that can be a very lucrative endeavor. So I agree. I think we're in the full swing of a content economy and a creator economy where, you know, people aren't as interested in being just a consumer anymore, right? They're kind of taking... the power into their own hands and saying like hey I can really create some value and shake some things up if I bring um my opinion and my my perspective to the table so I agree 100 yeah that's well said alicia what's your take on the creator versus uh consumer economy Yeah, I would definitely agree with Julian. I would say right now, the new currency is a human connection. People are looking to connect, right? So when you look at the consumer side and look at the creative side, they both intertwine with one another. What Julian was saying, there's people on there with like cooking shows and things that are valuable or creating a valuable, like insightful interest into people that are looking for that type of content, right? so there's a creative side but also there's a consumer side where that person may be selling like a cookbook or selling things to you know influence someone's uh reading patterns or what have you so I would say there's a mix of both intertwining in there but I would say the for for myself and this business um I get a lot of value just by creating that connection with that person figuring out their life and their background and their business and seeing how we can help them specifically So the consumer side is always going to be there. You have your Amazon, you have your online shopping, everyone's always looking for the next best thing. But TikTok, for example, without the creators creating content around that product, how would people find out? So shout out back to our creators, because without them, you know, nobody would really know about these products and how it works or how it would benefit them and their life. And then you have other products or other platforms like Amazon, but you see how people are more attracted to looking at the human connection and looking at these creators and relating to their stores or whatever they're selling. And it creates more of a connection with the person, the product and the creation, I would say. So without the creation behind the products, I feel like it would be a very hard flow when it comes to that connection there. Right? Yeah. Yeah. I like the comparison, too, to the... the creators, whether they're on, you know, especially TikTok, like you have, you can have maybe a thousand or 5,000 people in your network on TikTok or followers, and you can do really well. And it just brings this idea. Like it, it kind of pulls back the curtain on some of these really centralized big industries. Like, you know, YouTube, you say something wrong. There's a good chance that they're going to demonetize your content and just kind of spotlight. Okay. I'm going to show your stuff to 40 people now instead of 4,000. And you can bring this all the way back to this idea of relationship. We all know Mark Davis. He's like the unsung hero of the cannabis connection industry, connecting people from Europe, from New Jersey to Hawaii. If you're out there and you're listening and you're in the psychedelic industry, get yourself ahead. You better reach out to Mark Davis because this guy has so many people I've talked to. have nothing but kind things and incredible things to say about them. But it speaks to this idea of the creator, the guy in the background that is creating a relationship for everybody to be successful. I think Mark Davis is that. I think TikTok is that. And I think Maxi AI is on the bridge in connecting people there. So here's another one that comes from the audience. Clint Kyle's phenomenal guy. He's got his own podcast, the psychedelic Christian podcast. People should definitely be checking that out. He says, why companies begin outsourcing to AI procedures such as hiring and firing based on program metrics. Julian, you want to take that one? Well, that's really interesting. Um, cause that's not a use case I've seen so far with AI, but yeah, I think that's definitely, um, I think that that's a possibility, you know, there's, it's like the more we kind of dive into this AI thing, we realize that there's kind of a, an AI solution or an AI powered tool that can solve any problem. Um, and you know, the hiring and firing. I'd say process probably can be, um, automated in some way or streamlined, uh, you know, with certain AI tools. So that's very interesting. And honestly, I'm going to, I appreciate that clean. Cause I'm going to, I'm going to take that and kind of build on that after the podcast, because that's not, um, it's not an area we necessarily have looked into for AI, but something that more than likely I say is going to come on the forefront sooner than later. Yeah. I think you can already see it in hiring. You know, when you go and you, if you fill out applications, I'm sure that they have some sort of AI that filters through, like, does it check all these boxes? Okay, get them out of here. They're not even going to look at it unless it passes through the first AI filter, right? Yeah. And even, you know, a lot of, this is the last thing and I'll let you go, Alicia. You know, a lot of what we do when it comes to some of these AI tools, it's heavily based on databases of information, right? And even for a lot of our agents, we can train them with what's called a knowledge base, pretty common term in AI. And it's simply giving your AI agent or model certain bits of information for it to kind of base its output on. So like you're saying, George, for the hiring process, you might be able to upload 20 applications and give it the parameters that say, hey, we're looking for people with this amount of work experience, with this level of education, And so on and so forth. And like you said, it'll just put those people to the top. And then, you know, even taking it a step further, there might be an automation that automatically books an interview call with those recipients and can, you know, kind of take the process from there. So I think I think there's a lot of room for automation in that process. Yeah. Yeah. Alicia, you were going to say something right there as well? I was going to say the exact same thing. You took the words right out of my mouth. No, it's okay. I also just wanted to add, right, as far as AI in the hiring process, when you look at recruiters and people that are looking for jobs, I feel like AI can enhance people's talents instead of a system looking at a piece of paper. And that's where you can draw the line, right? There's so many talented people out there without a college degree. So I feel like there has to be a way where we can introduce AI to employees that are looking for a specific career or a career that fits their talents and where they can grow. where they're not just basically judged by what's on a piece of paper, their experiences and their college degree. I feel like if we can showcase people's talents with AI when it comes to video, whatever their creators, I feel like there will be a lot more flow when it comes to, okay, this person can provide this type of value to this company and grow in this company and be paid for their value or be paid what they're worth or even more. So there's a lot of different ways that you can look at the future when it comes to companies that are hiring and use AI to their advantage, instead of just, you know, I just feel like there's not a lot of like, you know, when it comes to like the mindset, there's not a lot of things that you can hit when it comes to a company hiring someone. I feel like there can be a more lucrative interaction as they actually look at a person and be like, okay, this person has this talent, let's hire them. I just feel like me being a nine to five employer, Oh, I spent years in that process. And let me tell you, if I had AI now, I feel like I would, you know, I would be I'd be working someplace where my talents can evolve. But I'm blessed that I'm in this position now. But I feel like in the past, if we have something that can utilize a person's employment resources to put them at the forefront of that job or that career, the possibilities are endless for that person. I love it. I think Maxi AI should be the bar in which this particular thing is set because so many people are trapped. If you have an application, you're trapped in a two-dimensional linguistic world where I went here. I did this. Here's my certificate. Here's my education. What does that really explain except for that you've made these sacrifices for a legacy system? Let me see a taped video of you talking to someone and The way you act. Let me see the way you can make that person smile. Let me see the way in which your emotions come out of you when you're communicating. Because that's what I want. If we can agree that the future of business and currency is relationships, that's what's going to be what's marketable. It's not going to be, hey, I have 25 certificates and I can type a thousand words per minute. Who cares? We're moving away from the drudgery and we're really going to start spotlighting or shining a bigger light on what people are truly capable of. And when the institution can empower and employ people that are truly capable of creating a new world, we're going to see just an explosion of commerce, of creativity, of wealth for everybody. It's I think it's an exciting future, and I think you guys could be at the forefront of it. I don't know what kind of metrics you would have to do to do that, but they've got to be out there, right? AI can find all these touch points and really bring out the life of an individual. And I think you touched on something interesting there because a lot of the work we're doing, me and Alicia with AI, we don't have very much technical background when it comes to coding or being an engineer or a full-time developer, but there's a level of creativity that has to come into this AI space that isn't so technically minded, but like you said, really starts to pinpoint the different things that the world is lacking and how this can kind of bring it to the forefront. You know, so me and Alicia like to stay on that side of the AI conversation and that, you know, a lot of what's to be created in the future that's related to AI has to do with the human creativity and like people like you who sees the need for change when it comes to how employees or employers are bringing new employees on just via these very dense metrics, like you said, like the word permitted or your college degree and really implementing some type of structure that lets the personality of the candidate shine through. So that's an aspect of AI I'm interested in is how can we bring the creative side to this to really make some mind blowing solutions that were unprecedented and that the world is desperately in need of. Yeah, it sounds like between the three of us, we are... I know some recruiters. I'm going to hook you guys up afterwards. But I think you guys could do a world of difference for recruiting agencies. And there's so many people out there that hang their shingle out as recruiters. And they're looking for top-tier talent. And they're good at it. I think using AI to find these different metrics is... something that could be done. And another point I have on technology, I would love to get your opinion on here is this. If you look at AI, the way we looked at the printing press, like the printing press revolutionized the way we see the world. It gave us incredible concepts and it gave us the ability to disseminate information around the world at a rapid pace. It gave us ideas like exact repeatability. And it seems like AI is, And unfortunately, the printing press also gave us probably 100 years of different wars that happened. And isn't it interesting that's kind of happening now? But maybe you could just touch on that a little bit about some of the similarities of the changing world in the past and how AI might be kind of repeating those things. I know it's kind of a big one, but I know you're also the philosopher, Julian. So what's your thoughts on that? Yeah. Um, I I'd say, you know, I'm a big fan that history works in cycles and it definitely repeats itself. Um, you know, I I'd say we could look at AI as like a printing press 2.0, right. But with far greater capabilities and. Again, coming back to that idea of things mirroring us as humans, I think history works in cycles, but it mirrors us at the same time where we're a little bit more advanced now in what we're able to express creatively. The tools that we're developing, again, are becoming a little bit more nuanced. And I think like the printing press, AI has the potential to start wars, to cause further divide in society, but it also has the potential to unify us in ways that we weren't being unified prior to, I'd say. And I think that's a very interesting analogy because Even with the printing press, like you said, it allowed people to put ideas out into the world that before you wouldn't come into contact with that idea if it weren't for having read a certain piece of information. And I think now AI is kind of repeating the same cycle where AI is kind of challenging us to get a little bit more in tune with the tool itself so that we can utilize it to our advantage in a better way. Yeah, that's really well said. On some level, ideas are like tools. And when you're not allowed to use the tools in your dad's workshop, it's very difficult to create some of the cool artistry that they create. And it seems for a long time, people in positions of authority have been denying the tools to the workers on the bottom. And I see AI doing this. Like, look at this idea. Look at this idea. And if we take the idea of the printing press or we take the idea of any technology, it's usually AI. It's usually a really poor idea for the person that invented the technology to tell you what that technology is going to do. In fact, in history, those guys are always wrong. The guy that invented it is like, this is going to do this. Never does that. It's always up to the person that's creating. The creative mind is like, here's a way better idea for this thing. Come on over here. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah, I agree. It's so fascinating. We are coming up on this hour right here. And I got to tell you, both of you, this has been a fascinating conversation. I really am excited for what you guys are doing. I think you're at the forefront. I think you're the right people at the right time with the right idea. And I'm hopeful that everyone that's watching this is going to go down to the show notes and start reaching out to you. And maybe we'll be having some more conversation in the future if that's okay. But before I would like to kick it back to each one of you and give you guys some time to wrap up what you guys think going on. Maybe some closing thoughts from each of you, but please in your closing thoughts, let everybody know what you got coming up, where they can find you and what you're excited about. So let me kick it off to you, Julian, and then we'll move over to Alicia for the closing thoughts. yeah so um I'd say to close it out you know anybody interested in ai and what it could mean for your business or even your lifestyle I say feel free to reach out um again we love working with all businesses all types of industries really getting into the nitty-gritty of what we can add to your processes or um or anything that we can do to save you some time and money I'd say you can definitely find me on linkedin um under julian g harris And you can find our business page on Instagram at maxiai.io. So you can look out for content on Instagram as well as LinkedIn. And I say for the future, we're just excited about partnering with more businesses and really helping them leverage and utilize this technology to scale and grow. Very nice. Alicia. I would say, well, Julian covered the basics. I would say something new that we have coming up, we are getting introduced into the education and the cannabis industry in health and wellness. So we are brainstorming. We are looking to connect with people in this field and see how we can help you in your business. And we are really excited about the education part in cannabis and health and wellness as well. So if you guys are looking to expand or looking to learn more about AI and how we can come in and help, feel free to reach out to us and we'll be happy to help. Yeah, that's fascinating. I think there's a huge space for AI in the plant medicine business. And I don't, you're the only people I know that are talking about it. So first market, well done. So hang on briefly afterwards. I wanted just to speak to you briefly afterwards to share a few things. But ladies and gentlemen, Mark, Clint, Thomas, everybody in the comments, thank you so much for participating. Wouldn't be possible without you. And I'm so thankful for everybody's time. Hope you have a beautiful day. Go down to the show notes and check out Maxi AI. That's all we got. Aloha. Thank you. Take care.