Senior leaders from life science, real estate, academia, nonprofits and more gathered to talk about AI with MA Secretary of Economic Development Yvonne Hao and panelists from Aethos, Broad Institute of MIT and Harvard, C10 Labs, Google, and Microsoft on October 22, 2024.
Rob Dickey of Leggat McCall welcomed everyone and shared the history of 40 Thorndike Street where the group was gathered. The former courthouse and jail building underwent a lengthy renovation and now boasts office space with stunning 360° views, an art-filled lobby, and 48 housing units plus retail space.
Yvonne Hao, MA Secretary of Economic Development brought tremendous energy and enthusiasm for the future of AI in Kendall Square and Massachusetts before she cycled off to three more events that evening including the Liquid AI pre-launch VIP dinner. The afternoon included a panel discussion featuring Gabriela Torres Vives of Æthos, Namrata Sengupta of the Broad Institute, David Berlin of C10 Labs, Aaron Weis of Google, and Soundar Srinivasan of Microsoft, and we wrapped up with informal conversations over delicious Mediterranean food from nearby Amba Cambridge.
Here are 10 top takeaways.
- “When we work together, we can do hard things.” Secretary Hao celebrated Massachusetts, specifically Kendall Square, for being good at solving problems with new technologies — including AI.
- “You don’t have to be “techy” to develop AI skills.” AI has the potential to empower people to do things they previously didn’t think were possible, said Gabriela Torres Vives.
- Ensuring that everyone has the potential to achieve AI literacy is paramount. Namrata Sengupta shared how the Broad is implementing AI both on a biomedical research level and an administrative, day-to-day level. She explained how the Broad assembled an inclusive Generative AI Working Group with representation from multiple facets of the organization and has launched a pilot program to find the best enterprise solution or solutions for the institution.
- Everyone should play around with AI to learn more about all that the technology can do for them. David Berlin explained how the C10 Labs venture studio is mentoring and investing in AI, especially Applied AI right at CIC in Kendall Square.
- “Start before you’re ready . . . but develop security and governance policies before you implement. With free AI, you are the product” Aaron Weis acknowledged that since this technology is constantly evolving, there’s no better time to get started. Be clear-eyed about how you’d like to use AI, including how you keep your data secure with governance policies. Develop secure enterprise AI.
- Whether you are making the AI or just using it, there’s never a terminal point where you’ve learned all there is to know about AI, said Soundar Srinivasan.
- It’s so important to create a values-based culture and community in which AI startups can flourish. Gabriela Torres Vives added that funders are key to compete and retain AI startups here. Æthos is building a community of founders and funders and more to support the development of AI here, so that they can succeed here. Æthos too is at CIC in Kendall.
- “Done right, AI can help us become more productive, knowledgeable, creative, insightful, and even empathetic.” I recommended people read the most recent book from Daniela Rus, Director of MIT’s CSAIL (Computer Science and AI Lab), and a co-founder of Liquid AI. The book is: The Mind’s Mirror: Risk and Reward in the Age of AI.
- “We cannot rest on our laurels as the incumbent; now is the time to act” Secretary Hao encouraged.
- Let’s have an AI moonshot here in Kendall Square, Soundar Srinivasan shared in informal conversation.
In a big week for AI in Kendall Square for AI, Liquid AI launched a new AI product using AI architecture inspired by the lowly roundworm, C. elegans. That product promises high quality results while using less energy and less compute. (More here in the Boston Globe.)
