The founder of an incubator specializing in AI is hoping to level the playing field for the technology by taking an unconventional spin to the business.
Dan Lesovodski, a serial entrepreneur, started the simply if clearly named AI Incubator in September to give established companies access to AI software and hardware to use in their day-to-day operations.
Unlike traditional incubators, which take teams of founders or early-stage startups and build them up, this incubator is looking to work with companies that have scored at least a Series B round of financing, Fortune 1000 corporations and established midsized companies in a similar fashion.
Lesovodski, who's also a vice president at AI consulting firm Data Monsters, thinks it's vital for that segment of companies to realize the benefits of AI in the same manner larger companies can. But to do so, he said, they "need real, practical projects."
Lesovodski, who founded digital printing company Stratoprint and sold it in 2016, has been working in AI since then, well before the sector boomed. He knew it would be an area that would be huge, he said.
His role at Data Monsters brought him in touch with corporate executives who expressed uncertainty about how to bring AI into their workforce.
"I meet a lot of executives that hesitate, that are not ready because they don't understand AI," he said. "Nobody wants to fail, this year especially. So what can be the solution? Let's collect the best talent in one place to put it all together."
That's where the idea for the AI Incubator came from.
The Sunnyvale-based program, set to start Friday, will include four months of training and practical work where company representatives will work with the incubator’s partners — Nvidia Corp, Siemens AG, WinterWinds Technologies, Sycomp and Data Monsters — to establish functioning AI models they can implement at their companies.
The incubator’s first cohort will be no larger than 10 companies or projects, Lesovodski said. That way, he said, he can ensure enough time and effort is given to each participant over the four-month period.
The incubator’s cohorts can include companies across the manufacturing, machinery, energy, agricultural technology, retail, telecommunications, logistics and robotics sectors, but Lesovodski wouldn't say which companies have been selected for the current cohort.
But projects included a "computer vision solution for defect control in a car manufacturing facility; solution architecture and benchmarking project for the most optimal integration of industrial personal computer and programmable logic controllers; and sub-millisecond optimization of manufacturing process," he said.
Participants will pay an unspecified fee, a somewhat controversial practice: Some observers believe incubators and accelerators should only take equity stakes instead of charging fees. The program is also financed by its partners, mainly Nvidia and Siemens.
AI Incubator cohort members are expected to take part in weekly meetings and participate in classes held at the Plug and Play Tech Center in Sunnyvale, Nvidia’s headquarters in Santa Clara and Siemens’ Campbell offices. However, the program is not limited to Bay Area-based companies, Lesovodski said. Companies selected from outside the Bay Area will be able to engage remotely.
Lesovodski said discussions with executives from Nvidia and Siemens about the gap in AI adoption among midsized companies helped prompt the incubator's formation.
It's why Siemens has partnered with the AI Incubator to bridge that gap, said German Suvorov, who works in business development at Siemens.
“It takes a versatile team of engineers, scientists, business and domain experts to make the solution that really brings the business value,” Suvorov wrote in an email.
Lesovodski said the program could hold a demo day, a typical finish to incubator programs, at a partner's office.
For now, though, he's just hoping that the AI Incubator's work “will change the world, not just create some hype.”
