Mavenoid: Fighting for our Right to Repair

Co-authored by Beata Klein

As we are forced to throw away more broken tech products than ever before, intelligent software has the power to unite companies and consumers with the ultimate goal of increased product longevity. We explore how Creandum-backed Mavenoid and its AI/ML software is a key facilitator in the Right to Repair movement.

When AI hits the headlines, it’s often for reasons that are surprising, impressive, or alarming. The impressive side includes stories such as when AlphaGo beat world-title-winning Go player Lee Sedol in 2016 or when Google demonstrated its Assistant casually calling a hair salon and booking an appointment. Certain other stories carry a darker tone, from the emergence of Deepfake videos, putting our ability to tell fiction from reality into question, to the doomsday prophecies emanating from a coalition of influencers across both tech and philosophy, AI often seems grandiose at it’s best and scary at its worst.

What you won’t hear so much about, are the applications of AI and Machine Learning that appear innocuous yet are incredibly powerful; the ways in which, every day, AI/ML is enabling people and businesses to work more efficiently and boost their sustainability. That’s exactly what Creandum-backed Mavenoid is doing.

A 21st-century solution

Mavenoid is a virtual agent that delivers technical support to customers, enabling them to troubleshoot issues and solve common problems with their technology products themselves — without having to contact human support teams.

Headquartered in Stockholm, Mavenoid was founded by two engineers who formerly worked for Palantir, a California based software company. The Company’s technology is built on several years of research conducted in close collaboration with the Swedish Armed Forces, who used it to help mechanics repair tanks and terrain vehicles in the field.

Not your everyday chatbot

The solution that Mavenoid provides is far from your typical chatbot. In fact, this is a good juncture to sort out the terminology so that we’re all on the same page. Let’s start by breaking down the difference between AI / ML. Artificial Intelligence is an overarching concept to create intelligent machines which have the ability to simulate human thinking and behaviour. Machine Learning on the other hand, is an application or subset of AI that allows machines to learn from data without being programmed explicitly. Or, to keep it simple: ML is written in Python, AI is written in PowerPoint 😜.

Returning to the subject of chatbots it is a common misconception that all chatbots learn. A substantial number are quite shallow, with a few predefined questions and answers, or naturally fit into a simple decision tree. We have all seen or experienced hilarious (and sometimes terrifying) examples of “dumb” chatbots.

Unlike generic chatbots, Mavenoid’s Machine Learning capabilities mean that it can handle the entire range of support requests: from installation and usage to more complicated troubleshooting. With their solution companies can help their customers repair and maintain their products safely, with step-by-step instructions.

In this way, Mavenoid is not just helping consumers to bypass troublesome support processes; it’s actually empowering people and businesses to solve complicated technical problems, with the ultimate goal of enabling them to use their electronic product for longer. Mavenoid is driving sustainability at a time when we are figuratively drowning in technical waste.

Throwaway society

The problem of technical waste is real. In the UK alone, fewer than one in ten people attempt to repair items that have broken. Similarly, consumers increasingly have to deal with ‘planned obsolescence’. For decades, manufacturers have built goods with a view to them breaking after a certain period of time. They are also increasingly making devices impossible to repair. This simply leaves consumers with little choice but to throw broken devices away and buy replacements.

The environmental implications of this are serious. According to the United Nations, the world produces as much as 50 million tonnes of electronic and electrical waste (e-waste) a year. To put that number into perspective, this waste weighs more than all of the commercial airliners ever made. Not only is this e-waste heavy, but it is also valuable, estimated to be worth over $62.5 billion annually (more than the GDP of most countries). Worst of all, only 20% of this heavy, valuable e-waste is formally recycled!

Empowering sustainability

But the tide is changing. Important regulatory moves are afoot across the EU and the US, which should make it easier for consumers and businesses to repair their own electrical and mechanical goods. The EU legislation states that by 2021 companies will have to make electronic goods longer-lasting, and they will have to supply spare parts for machines for up to 10 years. Although the Right to Repair goes some way to solving the waste epidemic by giving choice back to the individual consumer, it does not solve the problem that most consumers are not professional tinkerers. They often do not have the time, ability, or willingness to understand how a product works and then figure out how to fix it. This is why Mavenoid’s solution makes a big difference, it unites corporations who want to do good with consumers who want to keep their products in good shape.

This month, the European Commission will also present initiatives aimed at prolonging the life of products and encouraging consumers to seek repairs. The same EC initiative is also targeting waste in the fashion industry, something that retailer H&M is already addressing through — you guessed it — predictive technology (props to Arti Zeighami for leading this 💪). These steps, coupled with intelligent solutions such as Mavenoid’s, are stripping out waste, boosting product longevity, and giving people what they want in the first place when they buy a new product: ownership.

Looked at it from this lense, it is overly simplistic to fear AI/ML for its potential to beat humanity. The insight and intelligence delivered through AI and Machine Learning can also help to expand human capabilities. In reality, the entities that ought to be most afraid of AI/ML are the non-functioning electronics!

To find out more about Mavenoid’s groundbreaking solution, visit their website. Visit the Creandum website for more information about our investment strategy, and how the cutting-edge software companies that we support are changing the world.