To win with AI, Texas businesses should experiment, tech leaders say

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The businesses with the most success using artificial intelligence will be those with teams dedicated to experimenting with it, experts said in a recently recorded panel discussion. Texas businesses and governments are already using artificial intelligence, or AI, they said at a virtual Texas Tribune event.

The panelists called the buzz around AI both “shiny new toy syndrome” and a “hype cycle.” They also cautioned the online audience that today’s workforce must be ready to adapt to evolving technology and lawmakers must work alongside AI developers to ensure a sustainable outcome.

Event speakers included Amina Al Sherif, technical engineering lead in machine learning and generative AI at Google; Sherri Greenberg, chair of Good Systems and assistant dean for state and local government engagement at the University of Texas at Austin; and Angela Wilkins, chief data officer at Starling Medical and member of Texas’ Artificial Intelligence Advisory Council. Darla Cameron, interim chief product officer at The Texas Tribune, moderated the event.

The government should consult with experts to responsibly improve operations that use AI, they said. “The government is not going to become a tech company,” Wilkins said. “We have to learn how to work with the tech companies.”

Panelists said that AI is an umbrella term that should not be confused with artificial general intelligence (AGI), which is designed to mimic human intelligence and capabilities. AI is neither “artificial nor intelligent; it is simply compressed mathematics,” Al Sherif said.

The three experts also addressed the relationship between AI and climate change. For example, one ChatGPT question requires the equivalent of 16 ounces of water for the machine to cool down, Al Sherif said. AI can also strain the power grid, which adds to existing anxiety over possible power outages in Texas.

Researchers, lawmakers, and AI developers must work together to keep business both in Texas and sustainable. “We're not trying to say ‘don't come to Texas.’ The question is, how do we combine these goals?” Greenberg said.

Greenberg also said that concerns over privacy and security are valid but can be mitigated through “interdisciplinary, not just multidisciplinary” research. The speakers also discussed AI bias. “There is no such thing as an unbiased model,” Al Sherif said.

Despite these concerns, panelists agreed that AI could offer a new edge for younger generations entering the workforce and could improve quality of life by providing more leisure time.

Artificial intelligence in business is new, but organizations should not shy away from it, they concluded. “Some organizations just refuse to try anything,” Wilkins said. “I think in some ways, that's worse.”

The panelists in this Texas Tribune event pointed to these resources:

• Texas Artificial Intelligence Advisory Council
• Google's Goal Towards Net-Zero Emissions
• Encode Justice

Disclosure: The Texas Tribune is a nonprofit, nonpartisan news organization that is funded in part by donations from members, foundations and corporate sponsors. Financial supporters play no role in the Tribune's journalism. Find a complete list of them here.

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