AI literacy will be as important as digital literacy. The businesses and leaders who invest in understanding AI — not just using it — will have a competitive edge.
Artificial Intelligence is transforming industries at a breakneck pace, and the entrepreneurs driving this innovation are at the forefront of this revolution. From groundbreaking applications to ethical considerations, these visionaries are shaping the future of AI. What does it take to innovate in such a rapidly evolving field, and how are these entrepreneurs using AI to solve real-world problems? As a part of this series, I had the pleasure of interviewing Dmitry Shapiro.
Dmitry Shapiro is an accomplished American entrepreneur renowned for his pioneering ventures in technology. As the founder and CEO of MindStudio, Dmitry spearheads a groundbreaking platform that empowers users to effortlessly launch AI applications without any coding knowledge required, revolutionizing the landscape of technology accessibility. Prior to his leadership at MindStudio, Dmitry founded and served as CEO of Koji, an innovative App Store of social mini-apps seamlessly integrated into various Links In Bios. Koji’s visionary approach caught the attention of industry leaders, culminating in its acquisition by Linktree in 2023. Dmitry’s entrepreneurial journey traces back to the inception of the video sharing site Veoh in 2005, where he demonstrated his knack for anticipating and shaping digital trends. His illustrious career also includes notable roles as the CTO at MySpace and Group Product Manager at Google, where he played a pivotal role in driving product innovation and technological advancement. Originally hailing from Russia, Dmitry’s journey to the United States at the age of nine instilled in him a passion for coding and technology, setting the stage for his remarkable contributions to the industry.
Thank you so much for joining us in this interview series. Before we dive in, our readers would love to learn a bit more about you. Can you tell us a bit about your childhood backstory and how you grew up?
I was born in the Soviet Union, and immigrated to the U.S. as a child when my family fled religious persecution. We arrived with very little, but I was fortunate to grow up in an environment where education and hard work were core values. I was always drawn to computers — since I saw the movie “War Games” in 1983. That curiosity shaped my career in ways I couldn’t have predicted at the time.
Can you share the most interesting story that happened to you since you began your career?
One of the most surreal moments was launching Veoh, my first big startup in the online video space. We were trying to build a decentralized YouTube alternative before broadband was truly ready for it. One day, I found myself in a meeting with Michael Eisner, the former Disney CEO, who not only invested but joined as our chairman. It was a crash course in how quickly ideas can go from an experiment to something that industry titans take seriously — if the timing and execution are right.
You are a successful business leader. Which three character traits do you think were most instrumental to your success? Can you please share a story or example for each?
First, relentless curiosity — I’ve always needed to understand how things work, which drives me to stay ahead of industry shifts. Second, adaptability — technology moves fast, and staying relevant means reinventing yourself multiple times. Third, resilience — startups are brutal. You have to push through setbacks, whether it’s failed products, tough markets, or bad decisions. The ability to keep going separates those who succeed from those who don’t.
Ok super. Let’s now shift to the main part of our discussion. Share the story of what inspired you to start working with AI. Was there a particular problem or opportunity that motivated you?
AI fascinated me from the moment I saw its potential to automate knowledge work. My journey into AI accelerated when I co-founded GoMeta and built platforms that enabled people to create no-code applications. I realized that AI could take that concept further, allowing people to build intelligent systems without deep technical knowledge. That insight led to MindStudio — an AI orchestration platform that gives businesses the ability to deploy AI Workers, AI-driven workflows that can do the work of human knowledge workers
Describe a moment when AI achieved something you once thought impossible. What was the breakthrough, and how did it impact your approach going forward?
Watching GPT-3 generate human-like text at scale was an inflection point. Before that, AI felt like a tool for niche applications. But suddenly, it was clear that AI could generalize knowledge and create — at a level that was indistinguishable from human effort in many cases. That shifted my thinking from “AI as automation” to “AI as intelligence infrastructure,” which is now the core of how we build at MindStudio.
Talk about about a challenge you faced when working with AI. How did you overcome it, and what was the outcome?
One of the biggest challenges in AI isn’t technical — it’s adoption. AI capabilities have grown exponentially, but businesses struggle to integrate them effectively. At MindStudio, we saw that most organizations either overcomplicated AI implementation or didn’t know where to start. Our approach was to abstract away the complexity, making AI orchestration feel as simple as using an API. This shift made AI accessible to more companies and accelerated adoption in real-world applications.
Can you share an example of how your work with AI has had a meaningful impact (on others, on business results, etc)? What was the situation, and what difference did it make?
There are now over 150k MindStudio AI Workers deployed across SMBs, enterprises, and government — doing knowledge work that used to require humans, and doing work that humans could never do. An example of that is “Do Your Research” — an AI-powered professional researcher, that performs hundreds of Google search queries, to source quality data about any given topic, analyzes that data, and synthesizes it into a detailed executive summary (citing all of the sources). Each run of this AI completes in a couple of minutes, but would take a human researcher hundreds of hours and intense mental effort in order to complete. In a world that is now filled with misinformation, the ability to see through the noise is a superpower! https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MZ2vyCHXGK4
Based on your experience and success, can you please share “Five Things You Need To Know To Help Shape The Future of AI”?
- AI is an enabler, not a replacement. The best AI applications don’t eliminate humans; they empower them.
- Orchestration matters more than the model. The future isn’t about the best single AI — it’s about how multiple AIs work together.
- Data is still king. AI models are only as good as the data they learn from, and most companies underestimate how critical this is.
- Regulation is coming. Ethical AI and compliance will define winners and losers in the next decade.
- AI literacy will be as important as digital literacy. The businesses and leaders who invest in understanding AI — not just using it — will have a competitive edge.
When you think about the future of AI, what excites you the most, and how do you see your work contributing to that future?
What excites me most is AI’s potential to become an accessible utility, just like electricity or the internet. AI will power every aspect of work, creativity, and decision-making. At MindStudio, we’re building the infrastructure to make that happen — so that any company or individual, regardless of technical expertise, can plug into AI and immediately see value.
What advice would you give to other entrepreneurs who want to innovate in AI? Can you share a story from your experience that illustrates your advice?
Focus on solving real problems, not just building cool AI tech. AI is a means to an end, not the end itself. At MindStudio, our success came from simplifying AI adoption, not chasing the most advanced models. One of our early pivots was realizing that companies didn’t need better AI — they needed easier AI. That insight changed everything. Find the friction in adoption and remove it — that’s where real innovation happens.
How can our readers further follow your work online?
LinkedIn is a great place to find me, and keep up with what we’re doing: https://www.linkedin.com/in/dmitry-shapiro-a2b1/
If people want to start leveraging AI Workers, they can do so at https://MindStudio.ai
Thank you so much for joining us. This was very inspirational, and we wish you continued success in your important work.
Dmitry Shapiro Of MindStudio On Pushing the Boundaries of AI was originally published in Authority Magazine on Medium, where people are continuing the conversation by highlighting and responding to this story.