If you're a parent with young kids, you probably know how arduous it can be to screen a babysitter. And among those who have hired one, a whopping 62 percent didn't bother to check their references. That spurred Sal Parsa and Joel Simonoff, the cofounders of Berkeley startup Predictim, to develop a no-frills solution that taps artificial intelligence (AI) to generate personality assessments from digital footprints. The eponymous Predictim platform, which launches today, uses natural language processing (NLP) and computer vision algorithms to sift through social media posts -- including tweets, Facebook posts, and Instagram photos -- for warning signs. "The current background checks parents generally use don't uncover everything that is available about a person.