CognitiveScale CEO and co-founder Akshay Sabhikhi always wanted to start a company, although he didn’t know it would be in AI.
It wasn’t until nearly a decade into his career at IBM that Sabhikhi began discovering the potential that AI could deliver across a diverse set of industries, including healthcare and finance.
“I wanted to demystify AI so that it could be put to good use without requiring daunting levels of expertise,” said Sabhikhi.
Enter CognitiveScale, a four-year-old Austin company co-founded by Sabhikhi and CTO Matt Sanchez that brings augmented intelligence solutions to the enterprise. We caught up with Sabhikhi to learn more about the curious world of AI and how CognitiveScale is evolving along with it.
First off, what are the most interesting myths surrounding AI?
There are a lot. On one end of the spectrum there is skepticism about whether AI is ready for prime time within the enterprise. On the other end is the myth that AI will take everyone’s jobs away or some other Hollywood fantasy. Of course, neither are true. What is true, however, is that AI is already helping businesses and their customers, clients and patients in a meaningful way.
How is CognitiveScale dispelling these myths?
Those myths melt away when we demonstrate three things: performance, assurance and scale. Our customers are seeing vast business improvements with our AI systems by delivering better customer experiences and intelligence processes — that addresses performance.
When it comes to assurance, businesses and their customers want to be assured that their data is safe, and that there are guard rails and safety nets on their AI systems. Our Cortex Edge deployment brings our AI compute capabilities directly to our customers’ data, rather than the old-school requirements of sending sensitive customer and patient data to the cloud. That’s really important.
Another element is AI governance, which is end-to-end visibility and control of AI systems — which falls under the topic of responsible AI. Our products adopt responsible AI practices. We’re also a proud supporter of AI Global, open Cognitive Agent Modeling and Execution Language (CAMEL 1.0). Additionally, we partner with The Entrepreneurs’ Fund and the Saxena Foundation to address societal challenges with AI.
We’re a big proponent of responsible AI, and that needs to be part of every enterprise’s AI strategy from the start.”
How has the company changed since its inception?
The AI landscape and market has evolved rapidly from requiring education and awareness in the early days to developing practical applications that deliver real value at scale. Because of this shift, we’ve adjusted our offerings to meet the market where it is. We help clients deliver AI systems into production, while helping them accelerate innovation around AI by identifying the right use cases to put them on a path to AI adoption.
Where do you think the AI industry is headed next?
AI technology will only get better and more powerful. Even the most skeptical organizations will realize that they need enterprise AI just to remain competitive. The industry will realize that AI by itself is not enough. They will need responsible AI and the governance, controls and safeguards that come with it. We’re a big proponent of responsible AI, and that needs to be part of every enterprise’s AI strategy from the start.
How is CognitiveScale keeping up with developments in AI?
We hire the best, we closely track the market, and we get amazing advice and insights from leading industry experts and advisors. Because of this, I am glad to say that we are also shaping many of those progressions.
What do you look for in the people you hire?
We look for people who can work smart and ethically, and who can make a difference. We call it intensity, integrity and impact. We think fast and move fast. And we also enjoy each other’s company. We gather as a team every Friday, glass in hand at about 3:30 p.m. to have a laugh, connect and share.
