• by Laurie Sullivan , Staff Writer @lauriesullivan, September 18, 2017

Israel has become a hotbed for artificial intelligence, integrating AI with data and a variety of platforms such as search, email and programmatic to support advertisers. My6sense, a medium-sized company based in Israel with about 20 engineers and software developers, monitors about 1 trillion transactions daily, according to Avinoam Rubinstain, the company's CEO.

Rubinstain believes today's data standards are archaic, so  he's tapped three professors to make a change in the industry. My6sense's small research group is led by Professor Oren Kurland, along with Professor Moshe Tennenholtz and Professor Carmel Domshlak are all experts in information retrieval and AI.

Rubinstain met the professors while attending the local university. He said while earnings his master’s at Technion, Israel’s Institute of Technology, he did research on analysis and performance of multiple neural network learning structures, which today is called "deep learning."

Data & Programmatic Insider: What is the future of AI for data targeting and programmatic ad serving?

Rubinstain: Traditional targeting metrics, such as gender, are not accurate. Using AI technology increases the relevance. Adding more data can produce even better results and helps to develop the perfect match. I don't see any other technology that can do as well.

DPI: How do you see AI contributing to data and programmatic within five years?

Rubinstain: The use of massive data will help the industry become less aggressive, but the entire industry will need to change. The current IAB standards are old-world, very static. It needs to change. … It needs to evolve to an AI language that we all understand and talk.

DPI: What's the best piece of business advice you have received?

Rubinstain: Focus, focus, focus. Many people give you this feedback, but you really need to focus. It may be a figure of speech, but you also need to hire class-A people. It's all about the people who work with you, at the end of the day.

DPI: What type of books do you read, and how do they relate to the way you conduct business?

Rubinstain: I read a lot of books about history, like the history of the Jewish people and the Holocaust. Everything you engage with influences the way you behave and conduct business.

There was a famous story about the people who fought against the Nazis. Without the major support of others, they weren't armed well. When you're a very small entity, you need to find an innovating way to become successful. In our industry there are many giants like Google and Facebook, and there are limited resources to become successful.