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Maria Alice Maia
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Beyond the Highest Bid: What's Behind the Conflict Between Auction Theory and AI-Led Ad Auctions
Your platform’s revenue is strong, but your users are slowly dying inside. Imagine a large marketplace platform. Quarter after quarter,...

Maria Alice Maia
Aug 113 min read


You asked to be forgotten. We deleted your data. But did our AI really forget you?
This is not a philosophical question. It’s a ticking time bomb of liability and broken trust that most companies are sitting on. There’s...

Maria Alice Maia
Aug 13 min read


New Method | Your Recommendation Engine is Lying to You: Machine Learning Matrix Completion & Recommender Systems
Let's be brutally honest. Most corporate recommendation engines are stuck in kindergarten. They operate on a laughably simple logic: "You...

Maria Alice Maia
Jul 282 min read
![[PT] Um aviso importante sobre a privacidade e segurança de dados do Brasil - An important warning about data privacy and security in Brazil](https://static.wixstatic.com/media/ce8291_5617b63e9bb44e71bab28eeb435eebdc~mv2.png/v1/fill/w_333,h_250,fp_0.50_0.50,q_35,blur_30,enc_avif,quality_auto/ce8291_5617b63e9bb44e71bab28eeb435eebdc~mv2.webp)
![[PT] Um aviso importante sobre a privacidade e segurança de dados do Brasil - An important warning about data privacy and security in Brazil](https://static.wixstatic.com/media/ce8291_5617b63e9bb44e71bab28eeb435eebdc~mv2.png/v1/fill/w_454,h_341,fp_0.50_0.50,q_95,enc_avif,quality_auto/ce8291_5617b63e9bb44e71bab28eeb435eebdc~mv2.webp)
[PT] Um aviso importante sobre a privacidade e segurança de dados do Brasil - An important warning about data privacy and security in Brazil
[Note for Non-Portuguese Speakers]: This article is in Portuguese because it invites Brazilian readers to take part on a participatory...

Maria Alice Maia
Jul 149 min read


The 'Kindergarten Data' Trap: Why Your 'Before-and-After' Comparison is Probably Wrong.
Your team launched a new marketing campaign in October. In November, sales were up 15%. Success? Maybe. But you might just be celebrating...

Maria Alice Maia
Dec 30, 20242 min read


Core Concept: Regression Discontinuity Designs (RDD) - Intuition & Sharp RDD
Your 'Gold Tier' loyalty program is full of high-spending customers. Did the program make them high-spenders, or did you just give perks...

Maria Alice Maia
Dec 9, 20242 min read


Core Concept: Causal DAGs (Directed Acyclic Graphs) & d-separation
Your regression model is beautiful. But are you sure you should be "controlling for" that variable? This is one of the most subtle—and...

Maria Alice Maia
Sep 30, 20243 min read


Core Concept: Randomized Experiments (RCTs) & Design-Based Analysis
Does that 20% discount coupon actually make you money, or is it just an expensive gift to customers who would have bought from you anyway?
Answering this question is fundamental to your marketing ROI. And most companies get it dangerously wrong.
This is a classic "Doing Data Wrong" scenario I see in Marketing Departments all the time.
The Wrong Way (Observational Illusion): A team analyzes historical data. They see that customers who used a promotional coupon have a 30

Maria Alice Maia
Sep 2, 20243 min read


New Method: Machine Learning Methods for Causal Inference (General Overview)
Your marketing ML model is brilliant at predicting who will buy. But does it actually know why?
There’s a dangerous gap between prediction and causation, and many companies are falling into it, armed with the most advanced machine learning tools. They're using a Ferrari to drive straight into a wall.
This is one of the most insidious forms of “Doing Data Wrong”: using powerful predictive models to make causal decisions, like where to allocate your marketing budget.

Maria Alice Maia
Aug 5, 20243 min read
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