As lawmakers in Washington hammer out how to regulate artificial intelligence, Raleigh entrepreneurs are among those trying to guide the conversation.
Mike Capps, CEO of Raleigh-based Howso (formerly known as DivePlane), was among the speakers at the U.S. Senate AI Insight Forum in D.C. this week, which followed the White House releasing an executive order calling for regulations to oversee the rapidly evolving technology.
Capps, who faced questions from a panel of senators that included Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, said he left Washington feeling impressed. “I think it will show up in regulation, with a better informed technical staff,” he said of the event. “I hope it just influences the direction of what they do.”
Entrepreneurs in the Triangle agree that AI needs to be regulated and, for the most part, are encouraged by Washington’s desire to address it.
Last month, serial entrepreneur Richard Boyd, CEO of Ultism, said Biden's executive order provided “aspirational guidance,” building on what the European Union is doing, but he was still worried about ultimate implementation. He is concerned about AI systems in mission critical places – like the autopilot on an aircraft. Artificial intelligence makes the process smoother, but a human needs to have the final say when necessary, Boyd said.
Boyd sees a future with multiple AI systems working together, but a human ultimately responsible.
He also worries about biases in AI – such as facial recognition technology – something the White House is addressing with its Blueprint for an AI Bill of Rights.
Capps, for his part, is most concerned about “explainability” – unsurprising since his company has built an AI engine that aims to create transparent AI.
“In the end, what we’re going to care about the most is the system that drives that car … that it’s doing it in a way that’s consistent with the values of an organization, and that requires explainability,” he said.
Howso has 25 employees and will be hiring in the new year – and possibly raising capital, he said.
Other executives participating in the AI “Insight Forums” in Washington included IBM CEO Arvind Krishna, Microsoft co-founder Bill Gates and Google co-founder Eric Schmidt.
Capps wasn’t alone from the Triangle, as Cynthia Rudin, director of the Interpretable Machine Learning Lab at Duke University, was also in attendance.