AI For Knuckleheads

Human Speakers Announced

On May 4th, Santa Cruz Works will be hosting an AI event called “AI for Knuckleheads”. At this in-person event, we’ll discuss the ways that AI is currently being used in the average person’s day-to-day life, what more it could allow us to do, the myths and history of AI, and the possibilities for positive AI applications in our future. A panel discussion will be led by Craig Vachon. Speakers will also have the chance to share information about their company’s AI solutions. Speakers include:

Doors open at 6:00pm. Entry fee includes food, networking, and live music by Cruz Control. Beverages can be purchased at Kuumbwa bar. All attendees must show proof of COVID vaccination.

Friend or Foe

What comes to mind when you think of Artificial Intelligence (AI)? Chances are, the first thing that pops in your head is a group of robots that take over the planet and rule over humans. Thanks to the reoccurring themes in Hollywood and the media, AI has gotten a bad rap as something that is created by evil corporations but wreaks havoc on all of humanity in the future. However, you might be forgetting that AI is already embedded in your day-to-day routine. Autocorrect, self-driving cars, robo advisors, and of course—Siri and Alexa—are all under the umbrella of AI.

AI doesn’t have to be our enemy

AI doesn’t have to entirely replace the unique people, processes, and operations of an organization nor does it have to be a tool restricted to those with evil corporate agendas. AI that is human-centered, human trained, and open to collaboration is key.

AI Redefined (AIR) aims to do just that with Cogment™, “an innovative open-source AI platform designed to leverage the advent of AI to the benefit of humankind through human-AI collaboration.” Cogment’s core focus on humans and its free and open-source foundation make it flexible, safer, and more accessible while also reducing development costs, downtime, and staff retraining.

According to their website, Cogment’s modular AI systems can be grafted onto existing infrastructure and workflows, as gradually or quickly as desired. With Cogment’s AI Apprentice approach, AI agents must demonstrate their competencies before they are entrusted with the ability to act: through progressive human-in-the-loop (HITL) training, they gain increasing responsibilities -and autonomy based on their proven abilities. The human-centric core of Cogment is not only the safest and most ethical approach to onboarding AI; it also ensures a richer understanding and lowers the risk of bias, flaws, and catastrophic failures, like the ones we often see in the AI-as-Automation systems commonly offered.

Most tools of the sort are often proprietary or restricted to national defense or aerospace sectors, but Cogment brings robust, reliable AI tech to everyone.

Craig Vachon. Credit: Business Wire

AIR was founded in 2017 and is led by CEO G. Craig Vachon, a successful serial entrepreneur, corporate advisor, author, and investor. In addition to his role as CEO of AIR, Vachon is also the Founder of and Managing Partner of Chowdahead Growth Fund which has provided funding to companies such as SupplyShift and Looker and Senior Partner - Head of US Operations for NextStage AM, an independent business management and development company based in Paris.

Prior to his current roles, Vachon was the Corporate and Business Development, CFO, Chief Strategy Officer at internet privacy and security company, AnchorFree, a role he held for 8 years and Vachon held a variety of roles such as CEO, CCO, COO for companies like Immersion Corporation, Varatouch, Sirenic Inc, Nextel International and more.

“Human-AI collaboration technology is too vitally important to our economy and infrastructure – our society – to be confined to proprietary models and corporate interests,” said AI Redefined CEO G. Craig Vachon. “It fundamentally belongs in the hands of the open-source community where it can grow and flourish with ethical guidance.”*

*Source: Businesswire: AI Redefined Leads the Way to More Human-centric AI with Cogment, an Open Source AI Development and Deployment Framework. June 2021.

Malina Longai, Craig Vachon, ai for knuckleheads1 Comment