Closer look: How Birmingham tech companies are using AI

Here's a closer look at how Birmingham tech companies of all sectors and sizes are using or developing AI.

Analytical AI

Analytical AI is an image-based AI company.

"If you can see it, we can teach an AI to detect it," said Thomas Anthony, chief information officer and co-founder at Analytical AI.

In other words, if humans can see it with X-ray, MRI, CT, satellite, picture or with the naked eye, the company can train AI to "see" it too. The team develops integrated AI that aims to provide better-than-human threat detection and speed for on-person and property screening.

The company is growing fast and hired eight people this year. Its tech can be used in airports to digitally "unpack" a passenger's bag and reduce wait times while providing more accuracy, among other applications.

The algorithms for on-person threat detection are gender agnostic and improve threat detection while reducing false alarms, according to Anthony. The company has also developed algorithms for detecting several categories of prohibited items and is in development with the Silicon Valley Innovation Program, using its algorithms detect a variety of electronic and other common non-threat items.

"Someone doesn't have to rely on a human being to stare at the screen and hope to catch that, because sometimes things are hidden," said CEO Mark Froehlich. "Sometimes they're in a hurry, they get bored, they get tired, they get distracted."

CAVU

CAVU is using AI tools such as ChatGPT to streamline its workflow and get more done with a small team. CEO and co-founder Chris Sims said he can get many times more work done than before, and has access to expertise that would be difficult for a startup to afford otherwise, such as marketing-related knowledge. And it's all about knowing how to prompt the tool.

Sims highlights that the company's product was not created by AI, but "improved and powered by people using AI."

HData

HData, a regtech company and TechStars graduate recently unveiled the launch of a pilot program of its AI platform. The platform is used for managing regulatory data at electric and gas utilities. The pilot will explore the benefits of regulatory AI in key subject areas that support departments such as regulatory accounting, finance and treasury, and Southern Co. is using the platform.

"The fact that we are now storing these reports within our platform allowed us to build certain AI capabilities that allow our users to very quickly search and analyze and understand what's actually written in these reports," said Yuval Lubowich, chief technology officer and co-founder at HData.

The reports can be several hundreds of pages containing many numbers and, at times, well-hidden information.

"Up until recently, in order to understand what the report actually mentioned or what was written in the report, somebody had to go in and read," Lubowich said. " ... But what we're allowing our customers to do is interact with these reports in a similar fashion to what ChatGPT allows users to do in the outside world, meaning through an interactive interface, they can ask questions about these reports, get answers and then ask follow up questions."

The platform has multiple AI applications. Customers can search for specific topics such as power plant acquisitions and can get the information instantly without having to sift through thousands of pages.

"This is a huge time saver plus helps with certain liabilities," Lubowich said.

Recently, the company introduced a new capability which allows the AI to suggest synonyms which will be searched for automatically.

"Anyone who's ever searched within a document knows that unless they enter the exact same phrase as is written within the text, they will not find what they're looking for," he said. "But using AI, we are actually able to expand the search to look for similar ways of saying the same thing or synonyms. So AI is woven throughout our platform, helping users accomplish their day-to-day tasks."

Mark Two

Mark Two is a venture studio based in Nashville with a strong focus in Birmingham. The studio is launching an AI-focused corporate venture program. They are hoping to launch AI startups in partnership with traditional companies rather than as competitors. Mark Two's program is aiming to work with industry leaders in almost any vertical to help them launch their own startups to take advantage of what the studio's leaders are calling "the AI revolution."

"We're specifically focused on partnering with established market leaders in a variety of industries from health care to industrials to insurance to agriculture," said Glenn Clayton, managing partner at Mark Two Ventures. "What makes a company an ideal partner isn't their industry focus or level of technical sophistication. What we're looking for are companies with: 1) deep domain knowledge, 2) existing customer relationships or distribution and 3) lots of unique, proprietary data. Those three ingredients give traditional market leaders a head start in the race to build the next generation of great AI companies."

The goal, Clayton said, is to partner with large companies to launch new startups with established market leaders as a co-founder of the startups.

"They don't need to put up any financial resources or spend any money, though they are able to invest if they want," he said. "We'll provide the capital and the talent, but we want those startups to work alongside established market leaders to leverage their domain knowledge, data and customer relationships. In order for that to make sense for a company, they need to have a large ownership stake in the new startup."

QuantHub

QuantHub joined ChatGPT’s beta program a few years ago and has been observing its development with "a mix of excitement and surprise," Jones said.

"The quality curve has really accelerated since their public release this past winter," he added. " ... The attention garnered by OpenAI has been the inflection point we’ve been hoping and waiting for. I think it is safe to say everyone is now very attentive to how data and AI are impacting their industry and career. We’ve also seen a real inflection point in the capabilities of technology available in the market in this past year, and our team has doubled down on our own internal applications. We’re testing some pretty exciting forthcoming features like AI-generated video and audio training that we expect to release later this year."

Jones added that he sees AI as an opportunity for Birmingham.

"When cloud computing became readily accessible about ten years ago, it opened up a window of opportunity for companies to break free from the legacy requirements of server rooms and expensive IT staff, " he said. "We believe that current and imminent versions of generative AI will have a similar effect in leveling the playing field for smaller, innovative companies."

WorkTalo

WorkTalo is a talent acquisition platform aiming to change the way hiring is done using artificial intelligence.

It uses behavior-based matching algorithms and generative AI to mitigate bias in the talent acquisition process. By focusing on skills and value alignment, its leader wants to create a more objective and engaging hiring experience.

CEO and founder Donald Smith clarified that he does not want AI to replace humans in the hiring process, but rather serve as a tool to improve the process. A waitlist is in the works for WorkTalo's beta product, and Smith hopes to launch by the beginning of 2024, if not sooner.