I recently attended the AI4 2023 conference in Las Vegas. There were MANY discussions and presentations about Generative AI and Large Language Models (LLMs).

But there was also a major theme in the keynotes around AI governance, including aligning AI with business-specific values, data engineering, data modeling, ethics, fairness and the cost of getting all the way from PoC to production.

Here are my top three highlights of the conference keynotes (20 minutes each), all focused on various aspects of governance, which is needed to ensure our AI’s act appropriately.

• The Good, Bad, and Realities of Deploying AI Projects within Enterprises by Sol Rashidi is my favorite keynote presentation. Sol is articulate, interesting and had a lot of good things to say. If you only listen to one of these presentations, listen to this one. She talks about the problems she has encountered in her journeys leading big enterprises. A great set of issues we all should avoid.
• Natural Selection in Everyday AI by Conor Jensen discussed how organizations need to evolve their AI strategies and processes over time. One of his big points is AI adoption requires evolution (a favorite topic of mine). No organization can jump from zero to full AI maturity. It takes time and effort for each business to learn and evolve their way to success. There are things that you have to do. they don’t guarantee success, but if you get them wrong they guarantee failure.
• Next Generation Innovation. A Responsible Roadmap for AI by JoAnn C. Stoier covered the importance of AI governance and its many implications. This is a more traditional pitch for AI governance, but she brings in a number of worthwhile insights along the way.