To give women AI academics and others their well-deserved – and overdue – time in the highlight, TechCrunch is launching a series of interviews specializing in the extraordinary women who’re contributing to the AI revolution. As the AI boom continues, we are going to publish several articles all year long, highlighting key work that usually goes unnoticed. Read more profiles here.
Brandy Nonnecke is the founder and director of the CITRIS Policy Lab on the University of California, Berkeley, which supports interdisciplinary research to reply questions on the role of regulation in promoting innovation. Nonnecke can also be co-director of the Berkeley Center for Law and Technology, where she leads projects on artificial intelligence, platforms and society, and the UC Berkeley AI Policy Hub, an initiative to coach researchers to develop effective AI governance and policy frameworks.
In his spare time, Nonnecke hosts the TecHype video and podcast series, which examines emerging technology policies, regulations and laws, provides insight into the advantages and risks, and identifies strategies for putting technology to good use.
Briefly speaking, how did you start in artificial intelligence? What drew you to the sphere?
I actually have been involved in the responsible management of artificial intelligence for almost a decade. My background in technology, public policy and their intersection with social impact drew me to this field. Artificial intelligence is already ubiquitous and has a huge effect on our lives – for higher and for worse. I’m committed to contributing significantly to society’s ability to make use of this technology for good, reasonably than standing on the sidelines.
What work are you most happy with (in AI)?
I’m really happy with two things we achieved. First, the University of California was the primary university to determine a responsible AI policy and governance structure to higher ensure responsible purchasing and use of AI. We take seriously our commitment to serve society in a responsible manner. I had the honour of co-chairing the University of California’s Presidential Working Group on Artificial Intelligence and its subsequent everlasting Council on Artificial Intelligence. In these roles, I used to be capable of gain first-hand experience fascinated by how best to implement our Responsible AI principles to guard our faculty, staff, students and the broader communities we serve. Second, I consider it is amazingly vital that society understands emerging technologies and the actual advantages and risks related to them. We launched TecHype, a video and podcast series that explains emerging technologies and provides guidance for effective technical and policy interventions.
How do you take care of the challenges of the male-dominated tech industry, and by extension, the male-dominated AI industry?
Be curious, persistent and undaunted by imposter syndrome. I consider it is amazingly vital to hunt down mentors who support diversity and inclusion, and to supply the identical support to others entering this field. Building inclusive communities in the tech industry is a robust approach to share experiences, advice and encouragement.
What advice would you give to women wanting to begin working in the AI industry?
For women entering the sphere of artificial intelligence, my advice is threefold: continuously seek knowledge, because artificial intelligence is a rapidly evolving field. Take advantage of networking because contacts will open doors to opportunities and offer invaluable support. Support yourself and others, because your voice is important in shaping an inclusive, equitable future for AI. Remember that your unique perspectives and experiences enrich the sphere and drive innovation.
What are probably the most pressing issues facing artificial intelligence because it evolves?
I consider that some of the pressing issues facing the evolution of artificial intelligence isn’t to be misled by the most recent hype cycles. We’re seeing this now with generative AI. Sure, generative AI is a major advance and may have a huge effect – good and bad. However, there are other types of machine learning in use today that secretly make decisions which have a direct impact on every person’s ability to exercise their rights. Instead of specializing in the most recent marvels of machine learning, it’s more vital that we give attention to how and where machine learning is being applied, no matter its technological prowess.
What issues should AI users pay attention to?
Users of AI should pay attention to issues related to data privacy and security, the potential for bias in AI decision-making, and the importance of transparency in the operation of AI systems and decision-making. Understanding these issues can enable users to demand more accountable and fair AI systems.
What is the very best approach to construct AI responsibly?
Building artificial intelligence responsibly requires taking ethical issues into consideration at every stage of development and implementation. This includes diverse stakeholder engagement, transparent methodologies, bias management strategies and ongoing impact assessments. Prioritizing the general public good and ensuring the event of AI technologies which might be grounded in human rights, equity and inclusion are essential.
How can investors higher promote responsible AI?
This is a vital query! For a protracted time, we never talked explicitly concerning the role of investors. I am unable to express enough how influential investors are! I consider that the claim that “regulation stifles innovation” is overused and infrequently unfaithful. Instead, I strongly consider that smaller firms can gain a late-moment advantage and learn from larger AI firms which might be developing responsible AI practices and guidance from academia, civil society and government. Investors have the ability to shape the direction of the industry, making responsible AI practices a critical factor in investment decisions. This includes supporting initiatives focused on addressing societal challenges through AI, promoting diversity and inclusion in the AI workforce, and advocating for strong governance and technical strategies that help ensure the advantages of AI technologies profit society as a complete.
Blockchain startups were Things got hot when Katie Haun left Andreessen Horowitz in 2021 to start her own cryptocurrency-focused enterprise capital firm. However, shortly after Haun announced that the two Haun Ventures funds had reached a combined amount of $1.5 billion, cryptocurrency prices plummeted and FTX collapsed.
Despite having a large arsenal of dry powder, Haun Ventures has been slow to get into crypto and web3 on the low-cost, with many observers wondering when the company will pick up its pace of adoption.
While Haun Ventures says it wasn’t exactly sitting on its hands (and capital) during the cryptocurrency market downturn, the company was perhaps more cautious than it initially intended.
But now that bitcoin prices have rebounded to previous highs, Haun Ventures’ investment activity is increasing dramatically. Including some token items, the company has made 48 investments in accelerator funds value $500 million in early-stage and $1 billion in later-stage funding, Haun Ventures told TechCrunch.
The company’s latest investment is Agora – an application that improves voting and other decision-making processes in decentralized autonomous organizations. On Tuesday, the company led a $5 million seed round to Agora, with participation from Seed Club, Coinbase Ventures, Balaji Srinivasan and others.
Sam Rosenblum, partner at Haun Ventures, said a big barrier to DAO participation was the lack of an easy user interface that may allow members to approve (or vote on) the implementation of software updates to the protocols they manage.
The process was very fragmented. Some decisions were made on a separate Discord channel; “Then (the community) would go somewhere else to vote on whether to allocate treasury dollars to a specific project,” Rosenblum said.
Agora solves this problem for DAO members by providing an easy-to-use community and protocol management solution. “Historically, if you wanted to participate in the allocation of protocol vault resources, you had to perform a number of on-chain activities yourself, which likely meant you had a hardware and software configuration that most people didn’t have,” Rosenblum said.
Agora goals to make it easier for non-technical users to take part in DAO. Rosenblum compared it to Coinbase, which made coin trading simpler for most individuals.
The company was founded in 2022 by Charlie Feng, who co-founded fintech Clearco; Coinbase product designer Yitong Zhang; and software engineer Kent Fenwick.
Agora, which is actually a SaaS offering, is already utilized by protocols reminiscent of Optimisma href=”https://agora.ensdao.org/” goal=”_blank” rel=”noopener”>ENS and Uniswap.
Rosenblum explained that these protocols are pleased to pay Agora since it helps lower the barrier to participation of their community.
While activity in the cryptocurrency world is actually accelerating, Rosenblum didn’t say exactly when Haun Ventures will finish rolling out its current fund. However, he said that investments will proceed next 12 months.
When Keith Rabois announced in January that he was leaving Founders Fund and returning to Khosla Ventures, it got here as a shock to many within the venture capital ecosystem – and never simply because Rabois is a giant name within the industry.
This was surprising because, unlike in lots of other fields, venture capitalists traditionally don’t move fairly often – especially those that rise to the extent of partner or general partner, as was the case with Rabois.
VC funds have a 10-year lifecycle, and partners have a great reason to stay that course. In some cases, they could be “key people” in an organization’s fund, which suggests that in the event that they leave, the fund’s LP investors have the appropriate to withdraw their capital in the event that they so select. Many partners and GPs also invest a few of their very own money of their firm’s funds, giving them another excuse to stick with the firm.
So while it isn’t common for high-profile investors to move into the venture capital space, it seems to have happened in recent months. So far this 12 months, there have been significant cases of investors returning to old corporations, withdrawing from investments on their very own or stopping investing altogether.
Just TodayVic Singh, one in all the co-founders of Eniac Ventures, announced he was leaving the corporate he helped present in 2009 to start his own.
Singh joins a growing list of VCs who’ve recently left corporations.
Startups don’t avoiding large projects. Here’s my takeaway from the news that The Browser Company’s Arc Browser is now generally available to Windows users, just as Island has raised massive capital for its enterprise browser tool. It’s very encouraging to see startups embracing the core elements of technology, not only the apps available on platforms.
Of course, Chrom still reigns supreme, but it surely may take a while to do away with this horse.
Elsewhere in Startup Land on Equity this week, we delved into Chowdeck’s $2.5 million round. This is a Nigerian company that is reporting impressive growth in the sphere of food delivery in a very difficult market. Keep a watch on this as Nigeria is a big market and no single company has a closed delivery operation there. At least though.
We also took a glance New $150M Corelight Fundraisewhich is excellent news to chew on given its valuation and revenue growth.
On the venture front, we covered two stories: First, Intuition’s commitment to the buyer market is particularly interesting. The Paris-based fund is betting that the most effective approach to make as much money as possible is to go against the B2B SaaS narrative. Second, we see the creation of a new venture capital supergroup: Axios informs that investors with experience at a16z, Bessemer and Index are constructing a new company.
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