Unexpected inspirations, interpretations, and a famous reference behind the Kindness AI Agent ‘Beni’.
Have you ever pondered the narrative behind your name? Today, I want to delve into the tale of a simple yet potent name that has evolved into the purpose of my life over the past years: Beni.
It all began when my personal journey led me to explore the vast world of Kindness. Witnessing the profound impact that an act of Kindness had on my life, and as part of the transformative chain of events that culminated in the creation of KindWorks.AI, I wrote the idea for KindWorks.AI.
KindWorks is a platform that centers around a friendly AI agent whose purpose is to encourage and enable the intentional practice of Kindness. The AI agent must encapsulate values such as Kindness, trust, transparency, inclusion, commitment, collaboration, and innovation in every aspect about it. One of my first challenges was naming this agent in a way that authentically represents its role and its intention.
After numerous hours of research, reading, and spirited discussions, I conceptualized the initial name idea as that of “Benigno.” In the Cambridge dictionary, ‘benigno’ is defined as ‘kind’ with the reference to ‘a kind soul’. Interestingly, this name also holds a similar meaning in Spanish, which coincidentally is the second language that our product fluently speaks.
As I started to road test the name in my networks, I received mixed results. The name didn’t roll off the tongue, particularly in the English language. I felt the name was incomplete, so I delved further into content and academic papers. Surprisingly, the missing piece came from an unexpected source.
Are you familiar with the movie ‘Life is Beautiful’? The lead character is played by Roberto Benigni. His character, Guido Orefice, is a Jewish Italian bookshop owner who uses kindness to bring light in the midst of the horrors of a Nazi concentration camp. In his role, Guido demonstrates the incredible benefits of positivity and Roberto Benigni shows the power of joy, love, and kindness to millions worldwide through his performance. The film is the amalgamation of great characters and evidence that incredible things happen when you use your potential to help others, a testament to the transformative power of Kindness.
As I revisited the movie, I was struck by the similarity of the names ‘Benigno’ and ‘Benigni’. I knew that I wanted a name that was catchy, impactful, and boundless. I landed on ‘Beni’. Finally, our compassionate, humble, and enjoyable companion for those practicing Kindness and making it a lifelong habit had a name.
I love having conversations about both the origins of Beni and also how people interpret the name. ‘Beni’ is transcendent in multiple ways and I have seen people giving the name different meanings. Particularly building off of the root ‘ben’ in the name, people have tied it to the prefix ‘ben-’ meaning ‘good’ or ‘well’. This creates associations with words like ‘benefits’, ‘benign’, ‘bonus’ and multiple other positive associations. It makes sense that the name ‘Beni’ can be interpreted in different ways, especially because Kindness is so personal and can have different meanings for different people.
Now, not dissimilar from Guido Orefice, Beni showcases how Kindness is a strength in any situation. And Beni helps us realize how being kind goes beyond being nice and has an impact that at scale can change the world.
You can learn more about Beni by KindWorks.AI at www.KindWorks.AI or set a demo to see how Beni works.
