Rome - "An ecosystem where communication and social networking platforms coexist, certified information, secure and affordable payment systems, and, to top it all, an artificial intelligence, Maia, which will act as our personal virtual assistant in our daily activities, from managing our calendars to online searches, all in an environment where the data remains the property of the entity that generates it."
It's a dream come true, where technology meets creativity while safeguarding ethics and privacy, which are currently under severe scrutiny. This innovative project by Daniele Marinelli, a hi-tech entrepreneur who defines himself as "a technology enthusiast, someone who, if he's passionate about a topic, has to delve deeper into it," is where technology meets creativity while safeguarding ethics and privacy, which are currently under severe scrutiny.
After many years as a tax consultant in a chaotic city like Rome, I had no room for creativity and so at a certain point I decided to step out of my comfort zone and move to the other side of the desk by starting entrepreneurial activities.
For several years I have been exploring and trying to understand the potential of new opportunities such as virtual currencies, blockchain systems, the metaverse, and artificial intelligence, but what has fascinated me most is the world that revolves around the use and generation of Big Data and algorithms capable of exploiting online user profiling data and their tastes and preferences.
Marinelli raises a question at the heart of these new explorations: "What drives companies like Meta or Google to provide their services free of charge to users and, thanks to them, generate billions of dollars in value—values that certainly couldn't have come from advertising revenue in the case of Google or from paid posts in the case of Meta?"
The revolution brought about by the metaverse is driven precisely by users and their data. Increasingly sophisticated algorithms push users to spend ever-increasing amounts of time on social media platforms, and as they spend time online, they unknowingly leave behind a huge amount of data about their tastes and preferences. This data is then used in various ways, from the simplest—that is, to identify a product or service to offer the user by various companies (who obviously pay for it)—to less ethical situations in which we unwittingly witness actual manipulation to induce users to a certain product, service, or in some cases, as we've seen in the past, even in political and ideological choices.
Marinelli thus envisions "a reversal of the trend and an ecosystem in which user-generated data remains private and can be converted into user benefits. Like social media works today: based on your interactions, they perceive that you are a user potentially sensitive to sneakers (this is just one example) and share this information across different platforms, including marketplaces, which then start highlighting sneakers for you until they finally persuade you to buy them.
The value of this activity and information is therefore shared between those who sell the shoes and the platform that generated, processed and shared this information with third parties.
"In my ideal ecosystem," he clarifies, "a user who consciously expresses an interest in shoes will never see this information shared externally. Rather, they will be able to navigate within the ecosystem itself, potentially in a protected environment where they can choose the product, perhaps recommended by an artificial intelligence, and which can be paid for with fast, secure, and affordable payment solutions.
Every time you use your credit card to make a purchase, are your tastes and spending preferences shared? This is also a delicate aspect."
"We live in a system that only academically talks about privacy protection, but in reality, our privacy is constantly violated. Our ideal users, who make up our slowly but steadily growing community, are all those who understand the importance and value of their privacy," the entrepreneur specifies, "and who don't like being constantly bombarded by those who misuse our data for both commercial and manipulative purposes.
They are those who want to use web-based social networking or payment solutions safely and securely. They are all those who understand that companies like Meta are worth billions thanks to user data, and as they say in our industry: if you don't pay to use a service (Meta, WhatsApp, Google), then you're not a customer but 'the product'. Therefore, we are addressing all those who don't want to be the product of these companies but want to be the first to benefit from the value of their online data.
The secret of these platforms is their simplicity. "In our DTSMoney banking software platform, you can manage your assets, whether in fiat money, digital currency, or cryptocurrencies, in a single account and in a simple and intuitive environment," Marinelli explains. "It's a platform that allows you to use cryptocurrencies even for grocery shopping in just a few simple steps."
However, the true value of our platforms lies in their overall structure and in the circularity of their use. Once we have completed this journey, our platforms, which today include a super-secure messaging app (Uup Anounymus), a fast and impenetrable VPN (Nova VPN), a metaverse platform (Umetaworld) developed in partnership with an American company that can host shops, event spaces, meeting areas, or simply socializing and information spaces, our banking software platform DTSMoney, which I mentioned earlier, and our flagship product, which is growing day by day: Maia (short for My Artificial Intelligence Assistant), an artificial intelligence developed entirely and independently by us and which bases its logic not so much on content generation (like the famous chatgpt) but on the possibility of using it as a true personal assistant for everyday needs.
With Maia - the creative can only look to the future - you can already save time in your online searches (it does it for you, returning you targeted results), make your documents smart, that is, have the possibility of putting even complex documents of yours in a personal drive and making it 'searchable' through AI simply by chatting with Maia and asking questions related to the content of the document or even the possibility of being able to receive highly personalized information and news based on your actual needs.
And we're just getting started. "Maia," Marinelli explains, "was created primarily to save us time with our online activities and to act as the intermediary between us and the web, preventing us from being profiled and exploited. Maia communicates with us thanks to an LLM model trained by linguists in Italian, English, and French, and this allows Maia to grasp and exploit those nuances of language that complex languages like Italian naturally possess, and which cannot be fully exploited and understood by models based on translated English."
Maia is constantly evolving, and in our dreams, she'll soon be a classmate who knows us so well that she knows which restaurant to recommend for a business or romantic dinner based on the attendees' culinary tastes, or who can recommend the ideal car based on our profession, our family structure, and the places we like to visit. All of this, however, will be confidential between the individual user and Maia (just like a relationship with a friend) and will not be the prerogative of the entire web, as is usually the case.
"DTSocialize is the container of the entire ecosystem," he continues. "We have built a holding company in which, thanks to several subsidiaries, we are able to develop technology and platforms in the three sectors we are currently involved in: social networking and communications, payment solutions and online banking, and artificial intelligence. Other sectors and areas of research and development may be integrated in the future into what we have called DTCircle (the name of our ecosystem), where the idea of the circle represents a closed environment within which we can find the solutions we seek yet remain isolated from the outside world. Within DTCircle, the community can use various platforms and services in complete security.
This concept and business idea, which in Italy (the country where we started) has met with and still meets with incomprehension and mistrust, has instead proven to be highly appreciated abroad, to the point of capturing the attention of a leading interlocutor like Caprock, an asset management company and creator of financial instruments to support and grow companies, one of the world's giants in the sector.
Hence the launch of a partnership to support us in the development and penetration of the global market by accompanying us in our mission - underlines Marinelli - The first supporter called by Caprock to pay attention to our company and to be among the very first to join the support and development consortium was Houlian Lokey, little known in Italy and Europe, or the largest investment bank in the USA (in 2023 it surpassed JPMorgan and Morgan Stanley in investments).
While we're proud to be recognized by these giants, who will undoubtedly pave the way for us into new and broader scenarios, we're also flattered by their enthusiasm for our business model and entrepreneurial vision. Thanks to their support, we now feel much stronger and more confident that we can adequately support growth and have the right guidance to guide us through the right financial and investment strategies to conquer the global market. We may have reached it many years on our own, but with the support of two giants like those mentioned, we can significantly accelerate our progress and become the first to reach it.
In our agreements with these giants, we paid particular attention to safeguarding the benefits dedicated to our community, which has not only supported and believed in us to this day but is also the primary value of our company, since a community that shares a vision becomes the spokesperson for our message to the entire planet.
They will have the opportunity to benefit most from this partnership, being able to count on a company that can now serenely dedicate itself to development without limits or boundaries and that soon—this is the promise, indeed the commitment, that Marinelli announces—could be presented by Caprock itself at those tables where only the big ones can sit and discuss.
EDITORIAL TEAM
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