Episode Title : Good Artificial Intelligence Governance is good business
Episode Summary:
AI governance is about AI being explainable, transparent, and ethical. However, those three words mean different things to different organizations or functions within organizations, which results in slightly different definitions or descriptions of what AI governance is.
David Van Bruwaene goes over his own professional journey which started with an undergrad degree in Philosophy. As he was traversing between philosophy and logic in his academia, David realized that data science and AI are emerging fields. After his education, David realized that there is very little focus on ethics and AI governance and started exploring that area. One thing led to another and quickly David was heading up an AI startup. After he sold the initial startup, David started an AI company focusing on ethical AI and AI governance.
A journey from Philosophy to Data Science (01:00): David traced his journey from an undergrad in Philosophy into AI. David kept getting better marks in logic. He came from a family of computer scientists. With a unique combination of philosophy and technology, David did lot of projects in AI, expert systems, and kept coding in LISP.
Does a background in linguistics give an edge in AI? (06:00): David believes that the background in philosophy and linguistics may have helped him be successful in building a company. Sure, people with a traditional comp science background will have an edge in coding etc. but having to deal with fewer resources in a startup gave David some advantage as he can extend beyond technology.
Academia to consulting to CEO (08:00): David ws brought in as a consultant to a company focusing on Ai while teaching at Waterloo. After the company decided to stop consumer focus, David was offered the CEO job as he knew the product very well. Even though the transition was not easy, it was fun to work with people in addition to working with products.
Transition from a CEO to found Fairly AI (12:00): After selling his previous company, David discussed with many people and wanted to focus on bringing AI to market but in a responsible way.
Influencers & Mentors (13:30): The work from Professor Floridi of Oxford Internet Institute and his team has been a great influence. Even movies like iRobot and Terminator influenced David and emphasized the importance of the balance between appeal of AI and the potential negative effects of AI. It is exciting to work on the human aspects of the technology as well.
What’s coming ahead in 2021 and beyond (17:00): There is potential legislation from the EU and some regulations from the US (from past stalled work) are expected. So some amount of algorithmic accountability will be expected. Even though the enormity of the task is daunting, humans working together on the policy front, technology, and regulations will have a better outcome. At least that is the hope.
Resources mentioned in this episode:
Learn more at https://datatransformerspodcast.com
Data Transformers Podcast dives into AI risk and AI ethics, with potential risks of AI we should probably be paying attention to now, if we want to develop the technology safely, ethically, and beneficially, while avoiding the dangers.
Subscribe to Data Transformers Podcast at: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/data-transformers-podcast/id1538437609
Twitter:
https://twitter.com/DataTransforme2
https://twitter.com/peggy_tsai
LinkedIn:
https://www.linkedin.com/company/69241922
Data Transformers Podcast
Join Peggy and Ramesh as they explore the exciting world of Data Management, Data Analytics, Data Governance, Data Privacy, Data Security, Artificial Intelligence, Cloud Computing, Internet Of Things.
