If you were looking for proof that Seattle is an AI hub, you would have found ample evidence on Thursday night at Block 41 in downtown.
More than 1,000 entrepreneurs, investors and tech leaders gathered for Founders Bash 2023, a massive meet-up celebrating the region’s innovation sector.
Hosted by Seattle venture capital firm Ascend, the event included all of the hallmarks of a Seattle party: a taco truck and hot dog stand, a DJ, and a cast of geeks building the next generation of startups, solving problems ranging from architecture to education. Ascend’s Kirby Winfield — decked out in his traditional “SEA” ball cap and trendy sneakers — and chief of staff Jen Haller welcomed guests as a long line stretched around the block.
We were there to cover the action, and caught up with a handful of attendees to get their thoughts on the hottest trend in tech these days: artificial intelligence. Here’s what they had to say:
Charlotte Massey, co-founder of Gnara, an apparel tech company for women’s outdoor apparel.
Is AI the next big transformational wave or overhyped? It’s useful as a starting point for creative, if you’re writing copy, or you’re in the early brainstorming phase, but you still need human interaction there. I think the real power is then the way that we interact with technology, and being able to talk to computers without needing to know how a program works.
Saurabh Jain, co-founder of Feather, which is looking to transform how retirement accounts are built and delivered.
Is AI the next big transformational wave or overhyped? I think it’s both… It’s something new. It’s something novel, where new things can come out of it. Crazy amounts of inefficiencies can go away, a lot of things can be automated. But, at the same time, I think a lot of people who are just unaware of the technology may be just trying to capitalize on it, and not use it to its full potential. I do think it’s something that’s extremely valuable. But, obviously, you need the right mindset. And you need the right insight to make use of it.
Ryan Bruels, head of engineering at Atypical AI, which is developing tools focused on education.
Is AI the next big transformational wave or overhyped? Everyone that’s in this right now is in frontier land. And we’re just going to sit here and test and break ground until those really killer apps start to come out in the next couple of years. It’s just like iPhone back in 2008. Who, in the era of fart apps, thought that mobile and smartphone apps would become what they are today?
Martin Diz, CEO and founder of TANGObuilder, an AI tool that helps architects create blueprints.
Is AI the next big transformational wave or overhyped? I think it’s a big transformation wave. But it’s going to happen on the backend. It’s not going to be something that people see. So when you buy tickets online, you will have AI searching the tickets for you.
Varun Sharma, CTO and co-founder of Adauris, a startup that helps publications convert written work into audio.
Is AI the next big transformational wave or overhyped? AI is definitely not overhyped. In some areas it is, especially on the consumer side. But I think there’s so much utility to it. I think where AI, specifically generative AI, will perform the best and where there’s most opportunity is probably going to be in boring industries.
Catherine Williams, principal at Dundee Venture Capital, an Omaha-based venture firm.
Is AI the next big transformational wave or overhyped? I think AI is going to change the way that we work daily. I don’t think that it’s going to change every single job. But I think it’s going to impact many different jobs that may replace some but not all.”
Joe Golden, CEO of PerfectRec, an AI product recommendation tool.
Is AI the next big transformational wave or overhyped? I compare them to self-driving cars, where the output has to work perfectly, or you crash. There’s no human in the loop that can intervene. LLMs (Large Language Models) don’t have to be all or nothing. They can have all these applications where somebody reviews the output. And as long as it helps them save time or do a better job, it’s very useful.
Jai Jaisimha, a veteran entrepreneur and advisor at startup consulting firm 9point8 Collective, who has worked in AI since the 1990s.
Is AI the next big transformational wave or overhyped? When something new shows up, it’s always overhyped. What I’m looking forward to and hoping is that people start looking at solving real business problems, as opposed to ‘my dog ate my homework, so can I have someone else do my homework for me.’ I’m more interested in what happens when people start looking at proprietary data. How will it affect enterprise applications? It has a lot of potential there.
On his worries about AI: When do you know that machine learning has stopped working? When do you know that machine learning is making mistake after mistake without ever telling you it’s making a mistake? Hallucinations could have unfortunate effects if it’s running something mission critical. There could be other unknown ramifications.
