On the TechTO stage ×1
First seen on the TechTO stage in 2020. Every talk is searchable — ask the archive about Sophie ↗
In their words
It took quite a while to actually figure out what the big problem was that needed to be solved, rather than the one we wanted to solve.
What we saw as the perfect application of AI was actually this apparent irrationality that is actually hiding a very rational, self-regulated system that can be described by AI and predicted.
We explain when and why prices change in the art market, why artworks go from being sold for five thousand dollars to being sold for five million dollars ten years later, and why actually it's predictable and makes sense.
The difficulty with DMZ is the fact that you're one in many. There are so many companies there that to actually get the attention from people like Valerie is tough.
More from TechTO ×1
Around the web ×2
Quick answers
Who is Sophie Perceval?
A co-founder of Wondeur AI, the Toronto company that models risk on the value of art and other alternative assets for insurers and wealth managers. She trained in economics and political science and worked on the executive team of the Cartier Foundation before moving into media and product.
What did Sophie Perceval say on the TechTO stage?
That the art market's apparent irrationality hides a rational, self-regulating system AI can describe and predict, and that the hard part of starting Wondeur AI was finding a problem that needed solving rather than one the founders wanted to solve. She also drew a sharp contrast between DMZ, where a company is one of many, and Creative Destruction Lab's one-on-one investor time.
How did Sophie Perceval and Olivier Berger meet?
In Toronto. Both are French and, as she told the TechTO audience, both were trying to avoid working with French people — 'so we tried to avoid each other for a while, and in the end we had to build something together.'