I just finished a book "Shoe dog" by the creator of Nike. Its an...

I just finished a book "Shoe dog" by the creator of Nike. Its an easy read - recommended by my 15 year old son actually but the essence of the story is all good things take time. IMO Appen ran too far too fast in the last 18 months. Like everyone, I gobbled up the gains and tucked them away but to be honest they are not real - not yet anyway. I think Appen has another couple of years of consolidation of activities to go before it can really fly. Everything seems to be in place now that Figure Eight is on board. Using AI to build databases for AI with human annotation - this is that main game in AI in the next several years as we understand better what data we have and how to use it. Going off topic for a moment, in a couple of years time my view is the next big event will revolve around storing data. There are a few niche players out there toying with DNA data storage - when nature builds something don't get in the way - just use it. In the next couple of years i'd like to see Appen explore this kind of value-add to their business. Given DNA's data storage capacity Appen could use this to morph into a NextDC on steroids. In the meantime I reckon give the current business a go - they've run hard - let it grow organically for a while.