December 4, 2023 • 16 mins
Mandy Long, CEO of Big Bear.AI, discusses plans to acquire Pangiam, a company that powers facial recognition technology for airports.
Hosts: Carol Massar and Bailey Lipschultz. Producer: Paul Brennan.
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Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:00):
This is Bloomberg Business Week with Carol Messer and Tim
Stenebek on Bloomberg Radio.
Speaker 2 (00:06):
It does feel like everything that was connected with AI
was often running. It became the buzzword on corporate earnings calls.
Yet Nvidia, it's your top performing name in the S
and P five hundred, two hundred and twenty percent. They
make the chips that are needed in the massive amounts
of calculations. Just today we had syrup Tech. It's a
startup that makes AI tools to help fashion retailers plan
and manage their inventory. They raised about seventeen and a
(00:28):
half million in a funding round. So it's just all
in on AI. There's a lot going on.
Speaker 1 (00:33):
And it's everywhere. I was talking to a banker this
morning and she was saying that when we think about AI,
you can't just think about it as generator AVAI or
the chip makers, the foundations. This is something that every
company has to have an answer to, and investors are
asking that question because the way she put it, either
going to be a winner, you're going to be roadkilled. Right.
Speaker 2 (00:51):
That's a really interesting and people are building out their
infrastructure to support it. So our next guest definitely all
in on AI. Delighted to have with us Mandy Long,
CEO and board member a Big Bear AI joining us
on Zoom in Chicago. Mandy, it is I feel like
the topic there's two topics this year. It's weight loss,
drugs and AI, no doubt about it. Tell us about
what this year has been like for you.
Speaker 3 (01:13):
Guys, absolutely, and thank you for having me. Yeah, it
has been a huge year for AI, and in no
small part because of the rollout of chat GPT, which
did celebrate its birthday yesterday. I think is what it's
meant for us right in Big ba AI. You know,
we've been well we've only been a publicly traded company
(01:34):
for a couple of years. We've been at this for
a while, and we apply artificial intelligence to national security
missions right and enterprises. I think something that has been
a big catalyst for us, and I heard the comments
earlier around the fact that it really isn't just about
generative AI, right, artificial intelligence in general, right in the
(01:54):
application of it, particularly the operational application of it right,
the use in production, in helping people is what has
been a big game changer for our business, and as
we look towards the future, it's what makes us incredibly
excited about where we're headed.
Speaker 2 (02:09):
You are a small market cap two hundred and eighty
two million. You've had quite a run this year, like
a lot of names in the space, up one hundred
and sixty seven percent. About fifteen percent of the float
is shorted, so investors are watching it very carefully considering
the run up. Dig a little deeper and tell us
exactly what you guys are doing and who your customers are,
because from what I understand, it's a lot of the
(02:30):
US government, if not all.
Speaker 3 (02:32):
Yeah, so our entire business is not all federal government.
We work about twenty federal agencies, about one hundred and
sixty commercial customers in the private sector, and how our
business breaks down is really into three verticals. We do
work in supply chain and logistics, we do work in cybersecurity,
and we do work in autonomous systems. And when you
(02:52):
think about those three markets, there's actually a high degree
of complementary nature because we're securing supply chains the same
way that we're in introducing autonomous technology, and AI plays
a role in all three of those. The big difference
maker for us is that we combine very deep subject
matter expertise or the vast majority of our employees who
are supporting our customers come directly from those customer environments,
(03:15):
regardless of whether it's in the public or private sector.
And we pair that with a really open architecture approach
associated with solving customer problems. And when it comes to
the competitive landscape, where there's still a lot of players
who live in proprietary, closed system pay me support forever,
we take a pretty different tactic because for us it's outcomes.
Speaker 1 (03:35):
Well, man, you mentioned competition. How do you view the
evolution of Big Bear AI within what still is a
very much nascent part of the market.
Speaker 3 (03:47):
AI is absolutely still in the early days because the
difference maker and those who will survive versus those who
I think the words you use for b roadkill, which
I think is fair, is going to be you know,
whether or not you can do it in production at
scale and you can work in an environment that is
imperfect for us, right, I think because of our roots
(04:09):
in national security and in working in highly complex and
imperfect environments, we have a bit of a leg up there, right,
that causes us to stand out relative to the competition.
A lot of how we also apply the technology, right,
I mentioned open architecture before. That's a really big tenant
of how we operate as a business, and I think
it plays a big role as you start to think
(04:31):
about the implications of applying AI in production, right as
you start to get into those questions of how do
you know how do you monitor in an ongoing basis?
As these technologies mature.
Speaker 2 (04:41):
Andy, you know what's interesting is the conversation and narrative
has evolved over the year and everybody getting so excited
about AI. You know, I laughed, but it truly was.
On the earnings call, we would just search for AI
because every CEO is dropping it in to their press
releases or somehow bringing it up for a while. Having
said that, help me understand practically whether it's supply chains
(05:03):
or cybersecurity or autonomous systems. Give me a for instance
of what you guys do using advanced AI generative AI
to help a company.
Speaker 3 (05:14):
Absolutely, so, a couple of really specific things that we do.
One is we have a very mature portfolio and computer vision. Right,
so it's an area that I think for the technology
industry has been somewhat out of reach for a long
time because you needed the compute. We have a solution
called arcis. Right. We're partnered with L three Harris in
supporting their autonomous surface vessel fleet, so we do the
(05:35):
computer vision at the edge on those vessels to help
with vessel identification, weapons, etc. Right. Associated with deployments and
missions where you're working in really disconnected and difficult to
process environments, we provide CV there. Over on the supply
chain side, a really good example of some of our
(05:56):
capabilities are associated with what we do from predictive analytics.
We have a solution that we call Dominate that's very
focused on geopolitical and macroeconomic forecasting.
Speaker 1 (06:06):
Right.
Speaker 3 (06:07):
That's applied in an environment today, Right, incredibly relevant as
you look at the global landscape and your suppliers who
are working through very difficult capital deployment decisions associated with
still having to deliver end product to a customer and
an environment where you can no longer rely on the
same turnaround times associated with the assembly process.
Speaker 2 (06:26):
What's interesting is I hear you talk and I'm thinking,
were you laughing at everybody in January when they're like,
oh my god, AI. I mean, we know AI has
been around for decades, but in terms of this more
advanced level, it sounds like, I mean, how long have
you guys been working on that? Although it does sound
like the processing power, right, has been a newer thing
to kind of take it to another level. So I'm
(06:48):
just curious connect the dots for me on that if
you would.
Speaker 3 (06:51):
Yeah, And the answer is no, by the way, in
terms of whether I was laughing and everyone, right, I
think this year has been as a technology it's it's
a liberating year because I've talked about previously, you know,
this idea that I think AI is the new literacy, right.
You know, previously literacy for a long time was held
(07:13):
at a high priest and priestess level. It was inaccessible
to the masses. And what changed, right is the idea
of literacy empowers and liberates people. I think what's happened
this year is the exact same thing is happening with AI.
Speaker 2 (07:26):
Right.
Speaker 3 (07:26):
We've democratized the ability to interact with these advanced models
in a way that it didn't exist right a little
over twelve months ago. And you know, whether you're talking
about empowering creativity, right. An example of you know how
even I use gender tove AI and tools like that
is I, you know, I play with my kids, and
I asked them, you know, who's the main character and
(07:47):
what's our bedtime story going to be? And we you know,
you work with technology to change the way that people
can think about being creative. And I think that for
me is you know, it's why I love what I do, right,
And I think that what we're going to see on
a go forward basis is that because the level of
understanding of what is just what is possible associated with
(08:08):
kind of technology is now becoming more mainstream, we're going
to see the applications of it become widely adopted because
it shouldn't be limited to those who can speak the
technical language, right, it's humanity that's going to decide where
this goes.
Speaker 1 (08:22):
And Mandy, we only have about thirty seconds before a break,
but quickly when you look at Big Berry eye, is
the growth prospect within the private or public sector? Like,
what is more attractive and where do you see that
growth for the company?
Speaker 3 (08:35):
The answer is both right, And I would say that
because what has changed, particularly over the past two years,
as we've seen massive disruption in the global supply chain
and we've seen a geopolitical climate, right, that looks like
we could be in a new face of a conflict
in the coming years. Means that both sides of my
business are very busy because one needs the other right
(08:57):
in order to look into the future and be successful.
Speaker 2 (09:00):
Talking with Mandy Long, CEO and board member at Big
Bear AI, still with us on Zoom in Chicago. Mandy,
you were talking about just before we went and did
some news about the importance of both the public and
private worlds in terms of your business going forward. Talk
to us a little bit more about that, and I
know you also made a recent acquisition. Tell us about
that and how that kind of feeds into your business
(09:21):
and fits into the business growth.
Speaker 3 (09:23):
Absolutely, and I think the best way to break down
the importance of the relationship between the public and private
sector side of what we do is that there's an
incredible amount of collaboration that happens between both sides today,
and I think Big Bear in particular sits at an
intersection point between the two of those. Right in the
private sector side, right, we support with a lot of
(09:45):
the technology we have in not only in the autonomous
system side of our business, but also supply chains a
lot of capabilities that then get delivered right into the
federal government through those providers in addition to the work
that we do in for example, you know healthcare, right,
I spent fifteen years in healthcare, I was early days
(10:06):
in machine learning and vision AI.
Speaker 1 (10:07):
There we do.
Speaker 3 (10:09):
A lot of work with hospitals and health systems supporting
patient flow optimization. Right, So if you have a patient
that presents an eed, how do you make sure that
you get them to the right place at the right time.
Those patterns right in the ability to apply advanced technology
to that means that both sides of our business right
are growing right and relevant because we're solving problems that
(10:31):
cross the chasm of both sides. And when we look
forward to where we're headed, the anticipated acquisition that we
announced recently with Pangam bolsters our vision AI portfolio because
you heard me talk you know a lot about arcists
right in the work that we do in horizontal imagery
(10:52):
right in satellite. Pangaum has a remarkable portfolio that does
advance biometrics right facial you know, IRIS based work, and
it provides a really comprehensive solution that we can bring
to our customers.
Speaker 1 (11:06):
And Mannie kind of balancing though the utilization of technology
AI streamlining things helping, you know, working in healthcare and
better treat people. But on the flip side, buying a
facial recognition company, how does that play into some of
the security issues and getting customers and consumers kind of
on board with that. Just given as you mentioned, biometrics
is something that's very hotly.
Speaker 3 (11:27):
Debated, it very much is right, and I think it
was an important strategic decision right and it was not
made lightly Right At Big Bear, we play a very
big role and we use our voice very openly as
it relates to talking about the safety and security of
AI technology. We're very active right in the responsible innovation category,
(11:52):
the input associated with how to do regulation at scale,
And so when we think about these of biometrics, I
think one of the things that's really important to keep
in mind, right is that in many ways as a society,
we've we've crossed over a lot of the chasm associated
with putting information out there because of the widespread use
(12:15):
right and multi year at scale use of social media.
Now from a kind of where we sit on that
spectrum and the role that we play right, most of
the capabilities that when we think about our vision portfolio
today where we're very focused on is not in making
autonomous decisions, right, It's in helping to distill and provide
(12:37):
decision support for the ultimate cost.
Speaker 2 (12:39):
Believe, so you'd be working side by side with a
human might come up, oh in terms of one of
your systems saying hey, here's what we've come up with,
but you need to look at it and kind of
make some kind of decisions maybe off of it. Correct,
because I think we're very human in the loop, because
I think we get we get worried. You know, our
David Weston we talked with, who had talked with Henry Kissinger,
very concerned about AI in war time or in war specifically.
(13:03):
And I think about the role that you know, you
guys are going to be. You know that you already
do work with the government. I mean, what are some
of the oversights that we need to have though in
place to make sure that there isn't some kind of
runaway technology. And I'm not trying to be silly and
sci fi, but these things could happen.
Speaker 3 (13:23):
It's not an unfair question. Yeah, And I think it's
you saw in the executive order that came out. You know,
the top item is safety and Security of AI technology,
and that is not for no reason. One of the
things that I think we have to keep in mind
as a society as well, is that we have already
passed through the gates of a human being able to
(13:48):
individually manage and provide oversight of this kind of technology
at scale. We're already an augmented species, right. You know
you have I'm sure a phone right on you at
all times, or a computer at home. Leveraging technology to
help keep those guardrails in place is going to be
(14:08):
what's important here, because the traditional processes in paperwork is
not going to get us there.
Speaker 1 (14:13):
Mandy. One of the things that played out with Opening
Eye going too fast, too soon. I think back to
you know, Facebook, with Cambridge Atalytica, there is this the
government was not kind of in the know and regulating
these things, and technology companies were able to run rampant.
How do you balance that because obviously that seemed to
be playing out at Opening Eye with Sam Altman.
Speaker 3 (14:34):
So the rate and pace of innovation today has no
historical precedent. So I think even looking at those examples, right,
it's different. Now, look at what has happened with Chat
GPT in terms of adoption over the last year right,
there's nothing like it. So as you think about regulation
and oversight, you know, I go back to the same
core issue, which is that I don't think we're going
(14:55):
to get there without tech regulating tech, and that tech
needs to be architecture right, and it needs to include
the open source and it needs to evolve the way
that these models are going to evolve, or we can
get in trouble.
Speaker 2 (15:07):
But aren't you worried a little bit about open source
getting into the wrong hands?
Speaker 3 (15:14):
There is a philosophical discussion to have around the role
of open source versus closed source and the relationship between
the two of them. There is power in the open
source and the community level of effort associated with the
oversight of that provides a scale that does not happen
when you have a closed source system with a tight
R and D budget. I'm a promoter of the open source.
(15:35):
I think that we're finally getting to the place where
it's going to become a really relevant part of how
we operate as a society because of this pace of innovation.
But it doesn't come without the need to have guardrails.
Speaker 2 (15:47):
Well, listen, this was a really cool conversation and I
hope you'll come back because guessing in twenty twenty four
will still be talking about generative AI AI and all
that it can do, because, as you said, we're really
kind of early on in this whole process. Thank you
so much. Have a great week in great holiday season.
Mandy Long, CEO and board member at Big Bear AI
joining us on Zoom in Chicago. We covered a lot,
(16:09):
but I have like a million more questions.
Speaker 1 (16:11):
I know, I wish we had two more blocks to
kind of really dig into other things.
Speaker 2 (16:14):
We'll come back. We'll have her back, all right, folks,
you are listening and watching Bloomberg Business Week right here
on Bloomberg Radio.
This is Bloomberg Business Week with Carol Messer and Tim
Stenebek on Bloomberg Radio.
Speaker 2 (00:06):
It does feel like everything that was connected with AI
was often running. It became the buzzword on corporate earnings calls.
Yet Nvidia, it's your top performing name in the S
and P five hundred, two hundred and twenty percent. They
make the chips that are needed in the massive amounts
of calculations. Just today we had syrup Tech. It's a
startup that makes AI tools to help fashion retailers plan
and manage their inventory. They raised about seventeen and a
(00:28):
half million in a funding round. So it's just all
in on AI. There's a lot going on.
Speaker 1 (00:33):
And it's everywhere. I was talking to a banker this
morning and she was saying that when we think about AI,
you can't just think about it as generator AVAI or
the chip makers, the foundations. This is something that every
company has to have an answer to, and investors are
asking that question because the way she put it, either
going to be a winner, you're going to be roadkilled. Right.
Speaker 2 (00:51):
That's a really interesting and people are building out their
infrastructure to support it. So our next guest definitely all
in on AI. Delighted to have with us Mandy Long,
CEO and board member a Big Bear AI joining us
on Zoom in Chicago. Mandy, it is I feel like
the topic there's two topics this year. It's weight loss,
drugs and AI, no doubt about it. Tell us about
what this year has been like for you.
Speaker 3 (01:13):
Guys, absolutely, and thank you for having me. Yeah, it
has been a huge year for AI, and in no
small part because of the rollout of chat GPT, which
did celebrate its birthday yesterday. I think is what it's
meant for us right in Big ba AI. You know,
we've been well we've only been a publicly traded company
(01:34):
for a couple of years. We've been at this for
a while, and we apply artificial intelligence to national security
missions right and enterprises. I think something that has been
a big catalyst for us, and I heard the comments
earlier around the fact that it really isn't just about
generative AI, right, artificial intelligence in general, right in the
(01:54):
application of it, particularly the operational application of it right,
the use in production, in helping people is what has
been a big game changer for our business, and as
we look towards the future, it's what makes us incredibly
excited about where we're headed.
Speaker 2 (02:09):
You are a small market cap two hundred and eighty
two million. You've had quite a run this year, like
a lot of names in the space, up one hundred
and sixty seven percent. About fifteen percent of the float
is shorted, so investors are watching it very carefully considering
the run up. Dig a little deeper and tell us
exactly what you guys are doing and who your customers are,
because from what I understand, it's a lot of the
(02:30):
US government, if not all.
Speaker 3 (02:32):
Yeah, so our entire business is not all federal government.
We work about twenty federal agencies, about one hundred and
sixty commercial customers in the private sector, and how our
business breaks down is really into three verticals. We do
work in supply chain and logistics, we do work in cybersecurity,
and we do work in autonomous systems. And when you
(02:52):
think about those three markets, there's actually a high degree
of complementary nature because we're securing supply chains the same
way that we're in introducing autonomous technology, and AI plays
a role in all three of those. The big difference
maker for us is that we combine very deep subject
matter expertise or the vast majority of our employees who
are supporting our customers come directly from those customer environments,
(03:15):
regardless of whether it's in the public or private sector.
And we pair that with a really open architecture approach
associated with solving customer problems. And when it comes to
the competitive landscape, where there's still a lot of players
who live in proprietary, closed system pay me support forever,
we take a pretty different tactic because for us it's outcomes.
Speaker 1 (03:35):
Well, man, you mentioned competition. How do you view the
evolution of Big Bear AI within what still is a
very much nascent part of the market.
Speaker 3 (03:47):
AI is absolutely still in the early days because the
difference maker and those who will survive versus those who
I think the words you use for b roadkill, which
I think is fair, is going to be you know,
whether or not you can do it in production at
scale and you can work in an environment that is
imperfect for us, right, I think because of our roots
(04:09):
in national security and in working in highly complex and
imperfect environments, we have a bit of a leg up there, right,
that causes us to stand out relative to the competition.
A lot of how we also apply the technology, right,
I mentioned open architecture before. That's a really big tenant
of how we operate as a business, and I think
it plays a big role as you start to think
(04:31):
about the implications of applying AI in production, right as
you start to get into those questions of how do
you know how do you monitor in an ongoing basis?
As these technologies mature.
Speaker 2 (04:41):
Andy, you know what's interesting is the conversation and narrative
has evolved over the year and everybody getting so excited
about AI. You know, I laughed, but it truly was.
On the earnings call, we would just search for AI
because every CEO is dropping it in to their press
releases or somehow bringing it up for a while. Having
said that, help me understand practically whether it's supply chains
(05:03):
or cybersecurity or autonomous systems. Give me a for instance
of what you guys do using advanced AI generative AI
to help a company.
Speaker 3 (05:14):
Absolutely, so, a couple of really specific things that we do.
One is we have a very mature portfolio and computer vision. Right,
so it's an area that I think for the technology
industry has been somewhat out of reach for a long
time because you needed the compute. We have a solution
called arcis. Right. We're partnered with L three Harris in
supporting their autonomous surface vessel fleet, so we do the
(05:35):
computer vision at the edge on those vessels to help
with vessel identification, weapons, etc. Right. Associated with deployments and
missions where you're working in really disconnected and difficult to
process environments, we provide CV there. Over on the supply
chain side, a really good example of some of our
(05:56):
capabilities are associated with what we do from predictive analytics.
We have a solution that we call Dominate that's very
focused on geopolitical and macroeconomic forecasting.
Speaker 1 (06:06):
Right.
Speaker 3 (06:07):
That's applied in an environment today, Right, incredibly relevant as
you look at the global landscape and your suppliers who
are working through very difficult capital deployment decisions associated with
still having to deliver end product to a customer and
an environment where you can no longer rely on the
same turnaround times associated with the assembly process.
Speaker 2 (06:26):
What's interesting is I hear you talk and I'm thinking,
were you laughing at everybody in January when they're like,
oh my god, AI. I mean, we know AI has
been around for decades, but in terms of this more
advanced level, it sounds like, I mean, how long have
you guys been working on that? Although it does sound
like the processing power, right, has been a newer thing
to kind of take it to another level. So I'm
(06:48):
just curious connect the dots for me on that if
you would.
Speaker 3 (06:51):
Yeah, And the answer is no, by the way, in
terms of whether I was laughing and everyone, right, I
think this year has been as a technology it's it's
a liberating year because I've talked about previously, you know,
this idea that I think AI is the new literacy, right.
You know, previously literacy for a long time was held
(07:13):
at a high priest and priestess level. It was inaccessible
to the masses. And what changed, right is the idea
of literacy empowers and liberates people. I think what's happened
this year is the exact same thing is happening with AI.
Speaker 2 (07:26):
Right.
Speaker 3 (07:26):
We've democratized the ability to interact with these advanced models
in a way that it didn't exist right a little
over twelve months ago. And you know, whether you're talking
about empowering creativity, right. An example of you know how
even I use gender tove AI and tools like that
is I, you know, I play with my kids, and
I asked them, you know, who's the main character and
(07:47):
what's our bedtime story going to be? And we you know,
you work with technology to change the way that people
can think about being creative. And I think that for
me is you know, it's why I love what I do, right,
And I think that what we're going to see on
a go forward basis is that because the level of
understanding of what is just what is possible associated with
(08:08):
kind of technology is now becoming more mainstream, we're going
to see the applications of it become widely adopted because
it shouldn't be limited to those who can speak the
technical language, right, it's humanity that's going to decide where
this goes.
Speaker 1 (08:22):
And Mandy, we only have about thirty seconds before a break,
but quickly when you look at Big Berry eye, is
the growth prospect within the private or public sector? Like,
what is more attractive and where do you see that
growth for the company?
Speaker 3 (08:35):
The answer is both right, And I would say that
because what has changed, particularly over the past two years,
as we've seen massive disruption in the global supply chain
and we've seen a geopolitical climate, right, that looks like
we could be in a new face of a conflict
in the coming years. Means that both sides of my
business are very busy because one needs the other right
(08:57):
in order to look into the future and be successful.
Speaker 2 (09:00):
Talking with Mandy Long, CEO and board member at Big
Bear AI, still with us on Zoom in Chicago. Mandy,
you were talking about just before we went and did
some news about the importance of both the public and
private worlds in terms of your business going forward. Talk
to us a little bit more about that, and I
know you also made a recent acquisition. Tell us about
that and how that kind of feeds into your business
(09:21):
and fits into the business growth.
Speaker 3 (09:23):
Absolutely, and I think the best way to break down
the importance of the relationship between the public and private
sector side of what we do is that there's an
incredible amount of collaboration that happens between both sides today,
and I think Big Bear in particular sits at an
intersection point between the two of those. Right in the
private sector side, right, we support with a lot of
(09:45):
the technology we have in not only in the autonomous
system side of our business, but also supply chains a
lot of capabilities that then get delivered right into the
federal government through those providers in addition to the work
that we do in for example, you know healthcare, right,
I spent fifteen years in healthcare, I was early days
(10:06):
in machine learning and vision AI.
Speaker 1 (10:07):
There we do.
Speaker 3 (10:09):
A lot of work with hospitals and health systems supporting
patient flow optimization. Right, So if you have a patient
that presents an eed, how do you make sure that
you get them to the right place at the right time.
Those patterns right in the ability to apply advanced technology
to that means that both sides of our business right
are growing right and relevant because we're solving problems that
(10:31):
cross the chasm of both sides. And when we look
forward to where we're headed, the anticipated acquisition that we
announced recently with Pangam bolsters our vision AI portfolio because
you heard me talk you know a lot about arcists
right in the work that we do in horizontal imagery
(10:52):
right in satellite. Pangaum has a remarkable portfolio that does
advance biometrics right facial you know, IRIS based work, and
it provides a really comprehensive solution that we can bring
to our customers.
Speaker 1 (11:06):
And Mannie kind of balancing though the utilization of technology
AI streamlining things helping, you know, working in healthcare and
better treat people. But on the flip side, buying a
facial recognition company, how does that play into some of
the security issues and getting customers and consumers kind of
on board with that. Just given as you mentioned, biometrics
is something that's very hotly.
Speaker 3 (11:27):
Debated, it very much is right, and I think it
was an important strategic decision right and it was not
made lightly Right At Big Bear, we play a very
big role and we use our voice very openly as
it relates to talking about the safety and security of
AI technology. We're very active right in the responsible innovation category,
(11:52):
the input associated with how to do regulation at scale,
And so when we think about these of biometrics, I
think one of the things that's really important to keep
in mind, right is that in many ways as a society,
we've we've crossed over a lot of the chasm associated
with putting information out there because of the widespread use
(12:15):
right and multi year at scale use of social media.
Now from a kind of where we sit on that
spectrum and the role that we play right, most of
the capabilities that when we think about our vision portfolio
today where we're very focused on is not in making
autonomous decisions, right, It's in helping to distill and provide
(12:37):
decision support for the ultimate cost.
Speaker 2 (12:39):
Believe, so you'd be working side by side with a
human might come up, oh in terms of one of
your systems saying hey, here's what we've come up with,
but you need to look at it and kind of
make some kind of decisions maybe off of it. Correct,
because I think we're very human in the loop, because
I think we get we get worried. You know, our
David Weston we talked with, who had talked with Henry Kissinger,
very concerned about AI in war time or in war specifically.
(13:03):
And I think about the role that you know, you
guys are going to be. You know that you already
do work with the government. I mean, what are some
of the oversights that we need to have though in
place to make sure that there isn't some kind of
runaway technology. And I'm not trying to be silly and
sci fi, but these things could happen.
Speaker 3 (13:23):
It's not an unfair question. Yeah, And I think it's
you saw in the executive order that came out. You know,
the top item is safety and Security of AI technology,
and that is not for no reason. One of the
things that I think we have to keep in mind
as a society as well, is that we have already
passed through the gates of a human being able to
(13:48):
individually manage and provide oversight of this kind of technology
at scale. We're already an augmented species, right. You know
you have I'm sure a phone right on you at
all times, or a computer at home. Leveraging technology to
help keep those guardrails in place is going to be
(14:08):
what's important here, because the traditional processes in paperwork is
not going to get us there.
Speaker 1 (14:13):
Mandy. One of the things that played out with Opening
Eye going too fast, too soon. I think back to
you know, Facebook, with Cambridge Atalytica, there is this the
government was not kind of in the know and regulating
these things, and technology companies were able to run rampant.
How do you balance that because obviously that seemed to
be playing out at Opening Eye with Sam Altman.
Speaker 3 (14:34):
So the rate and pace of innovation today has no
historical precedent. So I think even looking at those examples, right,
it's different. Now, look at what has happened with Chat
GPT in terms of adoption over the last year right,
there's nothing like it. So as you think about regulation
and oversight, you know, I go back to the same
core issue, which is that I don't think we're going
(14:55):
to get there without tech regulating tech, and that tech
needs to be architecture right, and it needs to include
the open source and it needs to evolve the way
that these models are going to evolve, or we can
get in trouble.
Speaker 2 (15:07):
But aren't you worried a little bit about open source
getting into the wrong hands?
Speaker 3 (15:14):
There is a philosophical discussion to have around the role
of open source versus closed source and the relationship between
the two of them. There is power in the open
source and the community level of effort associated with the
oversight of that provides a scale that does not happen
when you have a closed source system with a tight
R and D budget. I'm a promoter of the open source.
(15:35):
I think that we're finally getting to the place where
it's going to become a really relevant part of how
we operate as a society because of this pace of innovation.
But it doesn't come without the need to have guardrails.
Speaker 2 (15:47):
Well, listen, this was a really cool conversation and I
hope you'll come back because guessing in twenty twenty four
will still be talking about generative AI AI and all
that it can do, because, as you said, we're really
kind of early on in this whole process. Thank you
so much. Have a great week in great holiday season.
Mandy Long, CEO and board member at Big Bear AI
joining us on Zoom in Chicago. We covered a lot,
(16:09):
but I have like a million more questions.
Speaker 1 (16:11):
I know, I wish we had two more blocks to
kind of really dig into other things.
Speaker 2 (16:14):
We'll come back. We'll have her back, all right, folks,
you are listening and watching Bloomberg Business Week right here
on Bloomberg Radio.
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Carol Massar
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