Artificial Intelligence Joins Venture Capital Firm's Board of Directors

Andy Chalk

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Nov 12, 2002
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Artificial Intelligence Joins Venture Capital Firm's Board of Directors


The Hong Kong-based Deep Knowledge Ventures says VITAL is the first artificial intelligence to be appointed to a corporate board of directors.

The naming of a person to a company's board of directors is not normally something that we'd bother with but this case is different because the person being named is not actually a person at all, but a machine. VITAL [Validating Investment Tool for Advancing Life Sciences] was announced as the newest member of the Deep Knowledge Ventures capital fund board of directors last week, in what the company said was a "world first in board appointments and venture capital."

"The variables involved in the long-term success of a biotechnology company are many and complex. We were attracted to a software tool that could in large part automate due diligence and use historical data-sets to uncover trends that are not immediately obvious to humans surveying top-line data," Deep Knowledge Ventures Senior Partner Dmitry Kaminskiy said in a statement. "We plan to incorporate new information from prospective investments into the databases to compare the outcomes against our selected investments."

"Due to lack of public disclosure datasets on investment rounds, intellectual property and clinical trial outcomes are not always available," added Andrew Garazha, senior analyst at Aging Analytics, the firm that created VITAL. "In spite of this our team of programmers - several of which have theoretical physics backgrounds - are able to use fuzzy logic to identify probable success based upon an extensive analysis of the parameters involved. Our goal through iterative releases and updates is to create a piece of software that is capable of making autonomous investment decisions."

It's obviously a bit of stunt casting for attention, but DKV echoed Garazha's statement that the long term goal is to develop the software to a point where it can operate "autonomously." To demonstrate its commitment to that goal, DKV decided to give VITAL a vote on investment decisions equal to that of flesh-and-blood board members, although Kaminskiy clarified with Betabeat [http://betabeat.com/2014/05/v-c-firm-names-robot-to-board-of-directors/] that there won't literally be a computer sitting at the table during meetings.

"Humans are emotional and subjective. They can make mistakes, but unlike the machines they can make brilliant intuitive decisions," he said. "Machines like VITAL use only logic. The intuition of the human investors together with machine's logic with give a perfect collaborative team. The risk of the mistake will be minimized."

Call me paranoid if you will, but I have a feeling that "the risk of the mistake" is greater than any of us could possibly imagine.

Source: PRWeb [http://www.prweb.com/releases/2014/05/prweb11847458.htm]


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Albino Boo

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Jun 14, 2010
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This is a gimmick. Being a director means you have legal responsibilities and an AI is not legally an individual.
 

gigastar

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Sep 13, 2010
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albino boo said:
This is a gimmick. Being a director means you have legal responsibilities and an AI is not legally and individual.
Doubt its being taken seriously on thier end. Or at least i hope thats the case.
 

The Artificially Prolonged

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Jul 15, 2008
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Well considering the general consensus of directors, appointing an Artificial Intelligence will probably provide a much needed human touch to the role :p
 

DTWolfwood

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Oct 20, 2009
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I am reminded of the Ghost in the Shell episode about the Dead man who had an AI making money for him.

"Our goal through iterative releases and updates is to create a piece of software that is capable of making autonomous investment decisions." They just want a room filled with Gold Bullion!
 

No social life

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albino boo said:
Sgt. Sykes said:
Other notable non-sentient members of many boards:
- a bottle of booze
- a dart board
- a crystal ball
You missed Donald Trump's wig.
Sorry, but you have that the wrong way round.
The "wig" is sentient, Trump is not.
 

Stormtyrant

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Andy Chalk said:
Deep Knowledge Ventures Senior Partner Dmitry Kaminskiy said in a statement... "Due to lack of public disclosure datasets on investment rounds, intellectual property and clinical trial outcomes are not always available"
Nope. Nope nope nope nope nope.

Seriously, that in itself is a terrifying statement.
 

Sigmund Av Volsung

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Dec 11, 2009
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Well, its not really an AI then, is it?

It's just a set of algorithms that interprets data and displays historical proof of patterns.

And I was excited that the singularity was closing in ._.
 

Avaholic03

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That's gotta make the other board members feel like their jobs are really secure.

But seriously, investing is a pretty algorithmic business. Human emotion/intuition often get in the way rather than helping. Even though it's a gimmick now, a few years down the line I wouldn't be surprised if it's just the way business is done.
 

lacktheknack

Je suis joined jewels.
Jan 19, 2009
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Sgt. Sykes said:
Other notable non-sentient members of many boards:
- a bottle of booze
- a dart board
- a crystal ball
This.

Really, "artificial intelligence" has been part of Directors' Boards for as long as they had computers with "Hearts" installed on them.
 

Falterfire

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Akichi Daikashima said:
Well, its not really an AI then, is it?

It's just a set of algorithms that interprets data and displays historical proof of patterns.

And I was excited that the singularity was closing in ._.
What do you think an AI is? An AI is a set of algorithms designed to solve complex problems faster than a human can. That's the whole point. There's no magic 'import Soul' function that transforms an ordinary computer program into an artificial intelligence, just a bunch of really complex math.
 

Sigmund Av Volsung

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Falterfire said:
Akichi Daikashima said:
Well, its not really an AI then, is it?

It's just a set of algorithms that interprets data and displays historical proof of patterns.

And I was excited that the singularity was closing in ._.
What do you think an AI is? An AI is a set of algorithms designed to solve complex problems faster than a human can. That's the whole point. There's no magic 'import Soul' function that transforms an ordinary computer program into an artificial intelligence, just a bunch of really complex math.
You'd imagine that an AI allocated to the board of director would be something more awesome, like, I don't know, it learns market patterns as they happen, not just act as a glorified excel spreadsheet that allocates advice based on what happened.
 

Shamanic Rhythm

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When I considered what form an AI used by a venture capitalist firm would take, here's what I immediately pictured:

 

1337mokro

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I can't let you sell those stocks Ziu Lin Huan.

It just doesn't have the same ring as Dave...

All though Greedbot is a pretty cool concept...



ALL YOUR MONEY IS BELONG TO ME!
 

Jadwick

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Jan 4, 2013
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Are they developing a TRON program as well?

How long will it take VITAL to usurp all power and appoint itself CEO?
 

Misterian

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Oct 3, 2009
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Jadwick said:
Are they developing a TRON program as well?

How long will it take VITAL to usurp all power and appoint itself CEO?
Now THAT would make for a very weird workday, for those of you who think your bosses are pushy, imagine if you applied for a job only to find yourself being interviewed by HAL, or possibly EDI from Mass Effect?
 

Dragonbums

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May 9, 2013
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albino boo said:
This is a gimmick. Being a director means you have legal responsibilities and an AI is not legally an individual.

That's what it wants you to think. And then before you know it-it's Bring Your Daughter to Work day and for some reason all the doors are locked and the vents are secreting a noxious form of neurotoxin to kill you all off so she can finally take over the company all to herself. For Science.
 

Scorpid

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albino boo said:
This is a gimmick. Being a director means you have legal responsibilities and an AI is not legally an individual.
Wrong it's a member of a corporation and so now it's legally people with its own rights.