Solving Business Problems With Artificial and Machine "Intelligence"
Almost 3 1/2 years ago, I began building a portfolio of investments in UK start-ups that use artificial intelligence (AI) -- or, if you prefer, machine intelligence (MI) -- to solve business problems (see portfolio companies below). This investment approach is getting a lot of attention these days, including from UK venture capital funds like Octopus Partners and Forward Partners. I like to think I was early to the game.
These investments have led me to pay a lot of attention to the business and science of AI (on the latter, check out my pinboard on AI for text analysis, on the platform of my investee Sparrho). A recent insight from this effort -- and the reason for the quotes around "intelligence" in the title of this blog -- is that it is misplaced (at least from a business perspective) to think about this opportunity in terms of creating human-like intelligence. Much is written about design for human-like AIs that can meet the Turing test or lead to the "singularity". But the real advantage to business from AI/MI is that it provides tools to do things faster or better than humans (and not necessarily by taking our jobs), rather than exhibiting "intelligence".
The start-ups in which I have invested use AI/MI ranging from quite sophisticated AI techniques to now run-of-the-mill processing of big data:
Qlearsite. AI and data visualization for human resources.
Sparrho. Science search and recommendation using AI.
Lexoo. Finding lawyers more efficiently and cost-effectively.
Contego. Customized management of big data for regulatory compliance.
Insurance. An insurance technology start-up still in stealth mode.
A common thread is that all of these companies are focused on delivering a business solution rather than building the smartest AI. And the smart AI/MI building blocks that they need to do this are readily available for free from big players like Google / Deep Mind, Facebook, Amazon, IBM Watson and OpenAI, and the many university faculty and students who are researching and writing about AI. Imitating human intelligence is a good field for researchers, futurists and science fiction writers, but it has very little to do with successful investment.
It is early days for this portfolio (no exits yet), but (touch wood) things are looking promising!
These investments have led me to pay a lot of attention to the business and science of AI (on the latter, check out my pinboard on AI for text analysis, on the platform of my investee Sparrho). A recent insight from this effort -- and the reason for the quotes around "intelligence" in the title of this blog -- is that it is misplaced (at least from a business perspective) to think about this opportunity in terms of creating human-like intelligence. Much is written about design for human-like AIs that can meet the Turing test or lead to the "singularity". But the real advantage to business from AI/MI is that it provides tools to do things faster or better than humans (and not necessarily by taking our jobs), rather than exhibiting "intelligence".
The start-ups in which I have invested use AI/MI ranging from quite sophisticated AI techniques to now run-of-the-mill processing of big data:
Qlearsite. AI and data visualization for human resources.
Sparrho. Science search and recommendation using AI.
Lexoo. Finding lawyers more efficiently and cost-effectively.
Contego. Customized management of big data for regulatory compliance.
Insurance. An insurance technology start-up still in stealth mode.
A common thread is that all of these companies are focused on delivering a business solution rather than building the smartest AI. And the smart AI/MI building blocks that they need to do this are readily available for free from big players like Google / Deep Mind, Facebook, Amazon, IBM Watson and OpenAI, and the many university faculty and students who are researching and writing about AI. Imitating human intelligence is a good field for researchers, futurists and science fiction writers, but it has very little to do with successful investment.
It is early days for this portfolio (no exits yet), but (touch wood) things are looking promising!
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