How psychology is shaping better machine learning

More psychologists are now coming the tech space because they're trying to teach machines to become more social and sociable, according to BT's head of customer insight and futures, Dr Nicola Millard. "I'm not a technologist, I'm a psychologist – and it makes a lot of sense having me on-board because innovation in itself won't work unless people adopt it," she told CMO. "A psychologist in the team prevents us from getting carried away exclusively by the technology which often tech companies do." Leading the third largest innovation hum in the UK, Millard is responsible for tapping into the research and innovations that BT does for its global services clients. "I used to have a silly job title as a futurologist, and I hated that job title because everyone assumes you have a crystal ball," she said. "But I'm in global services so my clients are typically retailers, airlines and banks – big global corporates – and we often bring them around to our showcases of the retail store of the future, or the bank of the future, so they can have a play with our proof of concepts." While Astral Park in the UK is BT's main research hub, the company also has other centres dotted across the world including Abu Dhabi, Singapore University in Beijing and MIT in the US.