Sat Ramphal (Founder and CEO, Maya AI)

Can you explain your job to a five-year-old? 

I'm the CEO and co-Founder of Maya AI. Me and my team have invented a self-learning robot—basically a digital robot. So, we have figured out how to make a robot self-learn and correct itself without human intervention.

What excites you most about your job?

My team. The team that we've put together is just amazing. And that’s not just the employees, but the advisors and the investors as well.

We're a team of eight people today. Eight humans, one robot, Maya. Mm-hmm. And having everyone in the same room, the synergy that's involved, you know how they get along, how they go off of each other's ideas, feeding off of the energy. That honestly is the most motivating driver for me. 

And then, on the other side, there’s the product. We are building cutting-edge technology. You know, generative AI that's on the way to Theory of Mind AI, that is in conjunction with quantum computing. It's very exciting to be a part of that and, and to set the ground foundations of this new wave of AI.

Which trend will change the future of medicine? 

AI is great, and I think AI is gonna make a big impact, but I think quantum computing is going to just set that on fire. So, I'm excited about the potential of quantum computing. We have already seen how much AI is disrupting the space. Incorporate quantum computing, and you multiply that by a thousand. It's gonna make it more accurate, it's gonna make it faster, it's gonna make it more available. 

Looking back, which trends have you missed or underestimated? 

This is a very hard question. You know, we didn't have a problem underestimating the trend. We hit the trend nail right on the head. So I would say, we perhaps underestimated the security measures behind the technology. Look at how, obviously the big one, ChatGPT, look how it's leaked IP, how it's leaked private information. 

So I think we really, really underestimated not, not only that, but as well as the applicability of it. People see this great, cool technology and now they think it could do a million and one things, and that's just not the case. There's only very specific applications that it's truly good at right now.

Which MedTech initiative or startup deserves more attention? 

I think the democratization of the entire healthcare process is an initiative that I can get on board with. I look at countries like the United States where the healthcare system is broken. There are a lot of things that we do pretty well, but there are also a lot of things that we do really, really badly. And I think initiatives that democratize access to care can be insanely helpful for the folks who need it the most.

For example, our largest market today is in Singapore, and I look at the Singapore health system where, when you have a problem, you don't have to go to your primary care provider and then go see another doctor that's specialized. Everything is loaded onto a card—and that's your health information and you can go directly to the doctor and solve your problem.

So I think the democratization of the industry is an initiative that I can back. 

Where would you put a million dollars? 

I would put it into innovation. I'd put it into young, hungry, innovators who are eager to disrupt and change the world for a better place. That where I'll put my money.

What's the best advice you've ever received? 

Accept change. You are never going to end up where you thought you would or even where you started. You're just going to end up somewhere else. So, accepting change is the best piece of advice I've ever gotten. My company has pivoted almost three times until it found value, until it found where we can make money. And if I didn't do that, I'd be dead in the water.