TAMPA, Fla. — It's not just the palm trees, technology is flourishing in Tampa. The number of tech-sector businesses in the region has increased by 27% over the past five years and is projected to grow, according to the Tampa Bay Economic Development Council.
"Tampa Bay is now, I would say, the tech capital of Florida,” Dr. Sudeep Sarkar, Professor and Chair of USF Computer Science and Engineering Department at University of South Florida, said.
We're not just talking big corporations, it’s at places like Embarc Collective, a downtown Tampa startup hub, where the next big things are being born. Like Maya AI.
"She's an artificially intelligent robot that we taught to learn on her own, to correct herself on her own and to learn from human operators, to read the internet in very fast ways,” co-founder Sean Ramphal said.
Ramphal and his two brothers, Sat and Shivam, all based in Tampa, have worked on developing the technology over the past several years, one of many startups the group of entrepreneurs have put their minds toward.
When prompted, Maya (a software) can answer questions based on speech or by being prompted with text. It can also build data sets, reports, and wide-ranging outputs.
"We're all mission focused, and we really want to see Maya out there benefiting the world,” Ramphal added.
Ramphal says there are common misconceptions and fears when it comes to AI, but he believes Maya and the emerging technology, as a whole, could help scientists and researchers comb through information quickly, helping solve challenging questions at inhuman speed.
"If we come together and we view this thing as like the new spoon or the new thing, that's the standard of human existence," Ramphal added. "It might give us the ability to explore more of our human potential."
While they continue working on growing their company, they say Tampa has proven to be a great place to do it.
“If you have a bright idea in Tampa, you're going to get encouraged, you're gonna get inspired just by going outside and looking at how other people are out there carrying themselves," he said. "You have no choice but to want to mirror and shadowbox success.”