AAIA's AI Beat Newsletter: The week's news, Chapter President Spotlight: Ruchi Tandon

In today’s newsletter:

• Recent AI news stories that caught our (and Perplexity AI’s!) eye

• Chapter President Spotlight: Ruchi Tandon, AAIA Silicon Valley, California, USA Chapter

• Become an AAIA member

AI in business and the enterprise news:

• Here’s what Perplexity AI said were notable news stories over the last week

  • AI pioneer Geoffrey Hinton, who warned of X-risk, wins Nobel Prize in Physics (VentureBeat, October 8, 2024)

    • …”Hinton has been nicknamed by various outlets and fellow researchers as the “Godfather of AI” due to his revolutionary work in artificial neural networks, a foundational technology underpinning modern artificial intelligence. Despite the recognition, Hinton has grown increasingly cautious about the future of AI. In 2023, he left his role then at Google’s DeepMind unit to speak more freely about the potential dangers posed by uncontrolled AI development.”

  • For Nvidia, spatial AI and the ‘omniverse’ entering physical world may be the next big thing (CNBC, October 2, 2024)

    • “With Nvidia’s Omniverse platform, Lebaredian spends his days building physically accurate worlds in the digital space, otherwise known as digital twins. “Creating robot brains is not going to be possible unless we can first take the world around us and represent it inside a computer, such that we can train these robot brains in the place where they’re born, which is inside a computer,” he said.”

    • “That new technology — in this case, deeply thinking robotics that use spatial AI to get ready for the real world — will be “the most impactful and transformational technology the world has ever seen,” Lebaredian said.”

  • OpenAI raises $6.6B and is now valued at $157B (TechCrunch, October 2, 2024)

    • “ChatGPT maker OpenAI has closed the largest VC round of all time.”

  • Accenture and NVIDIA Lead Enterprises into Era of AI (Accenture, October 2, 2024)

    • “New Accenture NVIDIA Business Group launched with 30,000 professionals receiving training globally to help clients reinvent processes and scale enterprise AI adoption with AI agents”

    • “Network of Accenture AI Refinery Engineering Hubs serving 57,000 Accenture AI practitioners to open in Europe, Asia and North America, supporting large-scale operations, agentic architecture and foundation model development with NVIDIA AI”

  • Skeptical about AI? It’s normal (and healthy) (VentureBeat, October 5, 2024)

    • “We seem to be caught in a chasm or battle of ‘hurry up and wait’ as we monitor the realities and benefits of AI. We know there’s an advertised glowing future and the market size of global AI is estimated to be more than $454 billion by the end of 2024, which is larger than the individual GDPs of 180 countries, including Finland, Portugal and New Zealand. Conversely, though, a recent study predicts that by the end of 2025, at least 30% of generative AI projects will be abandoned after the proof-of-concept stage, and in another report “by some estimates more than 80% of AI projects fail — twice the rate of IT projects that do not involve AI”.”

AAIA Chapters updates: We’ll be introducing a Chapter President to you each week.  This week, we feature Ruchi Tandon, AAIA Chapter President for Silicon Valley, California, USA:

Company: UKG, ex SAP, Oracle Product Leader

Bio:

Ruchi Tandon is a visionary product leader specializing in the enterprise B2B space, with a focus on delivering innovative AI platforms and products. Her extensive experience as Director of Product at industry giants including Oracle, SAP, and UKG has equipped her to drive product strategies that seamlessly align cutting-edge technology with real-world business needs.

Ruchi also lends her expertise as an advisor to HR Tech startups, effectively combining her enterprise tech experience with cutting-edge innovation powered by AI. This unique blend of skills and experience enables Ruchi to contribute effectively to the rapidly evolving landscape of leveraging AI as Next Gen Technology for application software.

Why I am excited to be an AAIA Chapter President:

I'm driven to lead the Applied AI Association chapter to drive AI's impact across diverse fields, ensuring human empowerment in this technological era. My goal is to foster responsible and ethical AI development and application in Silicon Valley, the heart of this revolution and create a collaborative environment where members can explore AI's potential.

What I hope to accomplish in the upcoming year in my Chapter:

I aim to cultivate a thriving AI community by organizing in-person networking events, expert-led webinars, and focused roundtables. These initiatives will  build strong connections among our members and industry leaders, ensuring multi-fold ROI on memberships. My goal is to position our chapter as a hub for AI innovation and professional growth in our region.

Email Ruchi Tandon at:  [email protected]

Our list of AAIA Chapters continues to grow!  If you live in a Chapter city/region and would like to get involved, email your city’s/region’s Chapter President.