Editors’ Note: Skip Granger has written a story about his experiences with Silicon Valley creators of Artificial Intelligence or “AI” in its early days. This computer-based phenomenon garners a great deal of media attention these days, ranging from enthusiasm for impressive accomplishments of AI-driven enterprises to predictions and fears of AI’s destructive and corruptive potential.
During my long involvement in Silicon Valley startup technology companies, I was fortunate to have some great wins and a few memorable losses. Having financed Octel Communication, which made the first cell phone, I still cringe when I think of all the kids who look at their cell phones instead of their families at Easter dinner. However, I passed on investing in the first attempts at Artificial Intelligence, also known as AI.
When I decided to write a story about it, I was advised to begin with a definition of AI told in such a manner that my grandchildren would understand it. Well, there ain’t no such cow! Before reading this, I would like you to know that no one understands it, and it scares us all to death.
To that end, I would ask that you first view the following current video, “The AI Revolution,” which appeared on CBS’ 60 Minutes in April 2023. (Click on the underlined title and then on “Skip Ad” to get right to the story.)
One of the more exciting and amusing things that happened in my Venture days was being involved in the initial days of AI. Although I
had made my venture reputation in the semiconductor business, I was contacted by two very interesting men named, ironically, Les Earnest (at left) and Ulrick Pilz. Well, I had to get right down to Palo Alto and find out why this Stanford computer professor turned entrepreneur was not named More Earnest! Also, how could a man named Ulrick Pilz expect anyone to take him seriously enough to give him millions of dollars to spend on a new and unproven idea. Then I remembered another fellow that I knew in Silly Valley who was named Steve Wozniak. He co-founded Apple Computer with Steve Jobs.
My adventure began in an old, dilapidated building in a small forested area well off the Stanford University campus. There were literally large holes in the floors proving that it had not been used for years and had seen its worst years already. Both fellows, Earnest and Pilz, were cordial and interesting, but remember, they wanted money — and lots of it!
I contacted a friend named Steve Smith (a trite and regular name) with whom I had placed close to $100,000,000 in technology venture investments. Unfortunately, Steve was a true snob, hailing from Grosse Pointe, Michigan. While a good friend to me, Steve was also a bit of a weirdo. He was definitely a likely candidate for investing in AI, and yet he wasn’t.
Based in San Diego, Steve was a brilliant Vice President of Equitable Life Insurance Company and instrumental in placing their high tech venture investments, partly in biotechnology, especially in San Diego, a biotech center. Well, this is where things got interesting. I picked up Steve at the airport and drove him to Silly Valley to meet these two very odd characters, Earnest and Pilz, in the most unique setting.
Very soon in this meeting, I sensed disaster coming. It didn’t take long before identity overtook reason and my deal was doomed.
I will never know how it might have worked in the end since it didn’t happen and since AI has taken a very long time to become the most significant technological advance in the history of man. During that time I have become a very old man. Neither I nor you will know the true outcome, assuming, of course, that we all survive AI!
Editor’s Note: Skip’s continuing interest in Artificial Intelligence has turned up examples of entertainment applications and scary criminal uses in just one area, voice cloning.
Entertainment: Artificial Intelligence can be used to clone voices. The Beatles can keep going forever, singing new songs and old ones.
Voice Cloning Scams: Criminals can clone a voice using a short recording found on social media and use it to persuade victims that a loved one needs help or an authority figure demands money. For instance, scammers have called the telephones of parents or grandparents and played the voices of their children, claiming they have been kidnapped and plead for ransom to free them. Skip shared with classmates that all members of his family now have a “safe word” that they include in every recorded message, so the family knows that the voice is real and not a clone.
Click on the underlined title to read about this particular use of AI: Scammers are using AI-generated voice clones, the FTC warns : NPR
Wow! Really enjoyed your article. Now I have a tiny understanding of AI. Important decisions are in the offing.
As usual, Skip, you were on the edge of developing tech. If only it would have been “bent in a different direction,” perhaps the outcome, as we know now, might have been more fruitful for STEM and peaceful outcomes.
WOW !!!