Chris Maxwell graduated with an MBA from Bentley University in 1998, the same year he discovered Web development, and he knew then that he had found his calling: programming. Chris has pursued that path until today without ever looking back. Unfortunately, by 2000, he began to experience pain in his hands and arms due to repetitive stress injuries (RSI), which progressively got worse! Early on in his career as a developer it reached a point where he could no longer touch a mouse or keyboard. To this day he cannot do either, but despite this limitation he has been able to work for Fidelity Investments as a developer, as a freelance consultant for a multitude of companies, and ultimately founded a Web development company and a coding boot camp.

Chris overcame repetitive stress injuries by using off-the-shelf speech recognition software and a system of word macros, coupled with specialized equipment: like an infrared head tracking camera, or a Wacom pen tablet. Although adequate, suffice it to say, speaking code has never been graceful or easy. It is tedious and a practice in patience. Mousing as well: the infrared camera led to a neck RSI, and these days using a pen tablet is causing problems.

It has long been said: “necessity is the mother of all invention,” and with the advent of deep learning, a new possibility has opened up for interacting with a computer. Chris is attempting to invent a better tool for this, in general, and specifically for programming, using Natural Language Processing and Deep Learning. Towards this quest he has founded Primary.AI, and has recently moved from Florida to the Bay Area in pursuit of this goal.Primary.AI