Optimizers take a hybrid approach to monetization. Unlike those who avoid machine learning and depend entirely on team talent for optimization and those who leave all the decisions to machine learning to lower costs, an Optimizer believes in a hybrid approach to monetization using machines and humans.

The concept began in the chess world. After grandmaster Garry Kasparov was beaten by IBM’s Deep Blue, he theorized that a Human+AI Centaur could beat an AI alone. He was right. As MIT’s Journal of Design and Science put it, “human grandmasters are good at long-term chess strategy, but poor at seeing ahead for millions of possible moves — while the reverse is true for chess-playing AIs. And because humans and AIs are strong on different dimensions, together, as a centaur, they can beat out solo humans and computers alike.”