Novacene is continuing to build its team of experts, and is welcoming Pallavi Baljekar who will lead AI and machine learning for the company
From Carnegie Mellon University to Google AI, Pallavi Baljekar has spent more than a decade leading groundbreaking research and technical advancements that have transformed speech translation and recognition in AI.
Now, the software engineer is bringing her expertise to the Novacene team as Head of AI and Machine Learning. In this role, Baljekar will work with clients and Novacene’s team to build on the platform’s capabilities – and discover new, innovative ways to address clients’ needs.
“Pallavi brings the know-how that is required to deliver the best results to our clients, and we are excited to welcome her to the team,” says Marcelo Bursztein, Founder and CEO of NovaceneAI. “Her expertise will guide us as we continuously work to mature our platform, and will allow us to provide our clients with the best possible solutions.”
Improving language understanding through AI
Baljekar received her PhD in Language Technologies at Carnegie Mellon University, and has spent her career as a software engineer for Google. At Google Research, Baljekar was directly involved in the research team that worked on streaming speech translation for the Google Translate app – allowing the app to transcribe languages promptly, with reduced translation revisions. This meant that the app could translate a speech, for example, with less real-time revisions which can be distracting for the user. Her work also helped Google Translate expand to 24 new languages, and at Google Research, she worked extensively on other projects that use AI to improve speech and communication.
While at Google Research, Baljekar also published research papers about biases in data sets, and investigated the long-term effects of biases in machine learning models.
Working towards better AI
Throughout her career, Baljekar has witnessed the evolution of AI, machine learning, and natural language processing – and understands that AI solutions must be configured to address clients’ unique challenges.
She says she wanted to join Novacene because it felt like the natural next step in her career.
“Novacene is an innovative, customer-focused company that finds solutions for a wide range of clients across many different industries,” she says. “Going into this role, my priority is to really listen to our clients and configure Novacene’s technology to deliver solutions that meet their needs. I’m looking forward to working closely with clients, and our engineering team, to implement innovative solutions through machine learning and natural language processing.”
Bursztein says Baljekar’s role comes at an exciting time for the company, which is entering a growth phase.
“We have demonstrated that we are creating real value for our customers, and they keep coming back and working with us. We’re also continuing to bring in new customers,” he says. “Now is the time to bring in Pallavi’s deep expertise, and to replicate the success we were able to achieve in the market so far.”
