AI & blockchain solutions pioneer. A six-time CEO, Terence Mills is the CEO of AI.io, an industry leading data science and engineering company that envisions, conceptualizes, and delivers AI solutions in healthcare, travel, and entertainment. Terence is also a recognized and prestigious member of the Forbes Technology Council and a monthly Forbes.com contributor on the topic of AI. Terence has been recognized as one of the top 50 AI influencers on Twitter in 2018, 2019, 2020, and 2021. Terence also is a board member of the WBAF US Country office, an affiliated partner of the G20 Global Partnership for Financial Inclusion that is committed to collaborating globally to empowering the economic development of the world. As a sought-after AI thought leader, Terence participates as a keynote speaker to educate and assist business leaders and entrepreneurs about how to harness the power of AI and blockchain to solve business problems.
At Ai.io, Terence is helping to propel advances in productivity by creating of the future of work and changing how people live their lives in ways they could only have imagined. In January of 2019, AI.io announced the launch of Halo Travel, powered by Priceline Partner Network. Halo Travel is the first intelligent, voice-activated, and personalized chat bot for travel that combines virtual payments with the capability to book flight and hotel reservations all via voice. Later this year, AI.io will be delivering innovative AI solutions in healthcare that will seek to improve the quality of care by solving some of the boldest problems in the $3.65 trillion U.S. healthcare payments industry.
How did you get to become an expert in your key topics?
I started out in the retail wireless industry when I was 16 years old. I opened a wireless store that grew into 21 stores in the South East that was sold to Bell South. I went on to become a director at SkyTel, the first nationwide paging company. There, we focused on data delivery to alpha numeric pagers. It was the very first foray into true data services. SkyTel went public and sold to MCI WorldComm for $1.9 billion. The period immediately following the sale of SkyTel, the tertiary wireless screen started to grow in popularity and with wireless PCS, wireless emerged as the primary device that would then eventually surf the internet. As I followed this technology and data trajectory, it took me into what is now today artificial intelligence and big data. Having been in AI and data for over five years, I have done deep dives on many of the solutions that my company has built and delivered. They are typically large scale solutions that solve significant business problems. I have been able to be a front row participant in each one of these solutions on an intimate level. For instance, I know how each has been engineered. The problems that engineering and data science needed to overcome as well as knowing the outcomes and the value that the solutions provided. This in-depth knowledge allows to speak intelligently about the technology on almost any level.
What topic areas are you most passionate about?
I am passionate about how AI can solve business problems at scale. I am also passionate about the ability to integrate a myriad of emerging technologies into a sustainable and inclusive ecosystem to solve more than one business problem. An ecosystem may include many tools of AI, blockchain, and payments systems and architectures.
Which influencers influence you within those key topics?
Keith Born, Terence Leung, Danielle Guzman, Dr. Marcell Vollmer, Tamara McCleary, Enrico Molinari, Antonio Grasso, Theodora Lau and Andrew Ng.
Outside of key topics, who else influences you?
Bill Gates, Elon Musk, Lawrence Culp. Jr,. Michael Dell, David Grant (author).
How would you describe your offline influence?
I am focused on giving back to this industry. To do this, I am engaged in keynote addresses where I can stimulate an audience, capture their interests by motivating them to engage in the very technologies that I am interested. I also write for Forbes and I am published on Forbes.com almost every month. I publish a blog to inform and drive thought for my readers. I am also working on boards to help drive talent in emerging tech and play a large role in teaching so that talent in the US can catch up to the talent in other countries within the areas of expertise that drive my interests and career.
What’s your best source of information for getting ahead of a story? What resource do you use to stay ahead of the trend?
I am commonly using all forms of social media, but in a different way. I often speak on on one with a handful of people that are tied to specific industries in order to gain their personal, hands on, and live perspective(s). As an influencer and a voice in AI, I gain my perspectives by being on the forefront of the technology, because my company builds some very advanced solutions. Therefore, I am speaking to others that are in the same position as me in their respective segment.
If a brand wanted to work with you, which activities would you be most interested in collaborating on?
What brands have you worked with?
The majority of my work has been performed with Forbes and AWS.
Which non-paid activities would you be keen to take part in if the opportunity raised your profile or delivered value to your audience?
I am keen to co-create long form or video content, provide quotes for articles in major periodicals. I am more than happy to speak at events, webinars, podcasts or online chats.
What are your passions outside of work?
I am passionate about my charity work and building a vehicle to benefit the people who are just getting out of school or those that have lost their jobs. I am eager to give back and create the ability for others to also succeed.
What would be the best way for a brand to contact you?