Another successful RAISE event in the books! Thank you to everyone who attended; it was a privilege to connect with so many community members, new and old, at our second annual RAISE event!
From our fascinating fireside chat to chatting with our new members in person to leading sessions at the broader NYC AI Summit, we made some great memories and are excited for next year.
Read on for a recap of the event highlights. And if you want to check out the livestream, our RAISE event and award ceremony are available to view on our Youtube channel now, and we hope to upload more in the next few weeks!
Amazing Turnout
We’re so thrilled to share that our community truly turned out for this event. RAISE 2022 had an incredible community attendance of 120 people, in person and virtually! Throughout RAISE and the NYC AI Summit, we were able to connect with our global community from several different countries, and we’re looking forward to future relationship-building.
Fascinating Discussion on RAI Governance Standardization
We kicked off the night with RAI Institute’s year in review that gave an overview of our certification leadership, our expansion into Europe, and the application of our team’s expertise throughout 2022. We shared new member announcements and welcomed several new members, including: AWS, SeekOut, FAIRLY, AI Responsibility Lab, CalypsoAI, SkyHive and CareRev.
Next, we hosted a Fireside Chat: “How Standardizing AI Governance will Ensure Responsible AI” with Christine Custis, Director of Programs and Research at Partnership on AI and Christian Troncoso, Principal of Global AI Policy at AWS at RAISE. This was an informative and timely session on how organizations can prepare for the forthcoming regulations and how formalized standards and governance can support the safe adoption of AI.
In a nutshell, here were some of Christine,Christian, and Ashley’s insights:
- Standards are key to RAI governance. Both regulation and standards are going to play a crucial role in technical interoperability as well as regulatory interoperability.
- It’s difficult for policy frameworks to provide overarching recommendations that apply to all use cases. Given that each AI system is different, approaches to mitigate risk must also be tailored to the use case.
- There are several challenges any company faces when embedding RAI practices into their operations. Furthermore, for global companies it can be challenging to navigate the international conversations and standards around RAI that are often conflicting or non-harmonized.
- As a result, sharing what works in terms of risk mitigation benefits all involved and should be encouraged. That’s why conversations like this one and RAI Institute’s leadership in fostering thought leadership is so crucial.
Where the RAI Institute is Headed
Next, we welcomed Ashley Casovan, RAI Institute’s Executive Director and Seth, RAI Institute’s President, to the stage. The two talked about our key value add; they shared RAI Institute’s solutions and assessments that help businesses prepare for regulatory compliance and increase their RAI maturity, whether they are building, buying or supplying AI.
Finally, our team shared some of the exciting early 2023 activities to continue to advance and advocate for responsible AI including: UK’s FCA Regulator Roundtable, developing our Certification Roadmap, RAI Institute Canada launch, and an AI Procurement Campaign. Stay tuned!
Recognizing our Community
The final segment of RAISE was announcing the RAISE Award Winners for 2022!
This year’s winners are:
1. Leading Community Organization Award- Mila’s AI for Humanity Team
2. Leading Start-Up Award- SkyHive
3. Leading Individual Award- Elizabeth Adams
4. Leading Enterprise Award- Jackson
Congratulations to all the winners and we look forward to honoring your work and collaborating with you all in the new year!
Broader NYC AI Summit Recap
With that, RAISE closed out as a huge success! It was an incredibly successful night, and it was such a joy to connect with our community. Outside of RAISE, our team had a fabulous time at the NYC AI Summit and were proud to share our insights in several other panels and discussions. Here’s the rundown:
- Var Shankar, our Director of Policy and Arvind Karunakaran from Stanford University shared their expert insights at the pre-event CxO panel titled “the Impact of AI on Leadership”.
- Ashley’s conversation on “The Business Case for Preparing for AI Regulation” moderated by Karen Silverman, CEO and Founder of the Cantellus Group dived into the regulator approach to developing RAI standards. They were joined by Mohan Reddy, CTO and Co-founder of SkyHive, and Shobhit Varshney, VP and Americas AI Analytics Leader at IBM who shared the perspective of businesses preparing proactively for regulatory compliance.
- Seth was part of the Open Forum, led by Asha Saxena, Founder and CEO of Women Leaders in Data and AI (WLDA), in a chat titled “Connecting Generations: Who Decides the Future of AI?”. They covered how the future of this community’s success, is tied to future generations’ continuing to place value on AI systems that are safe, minimally harmful, and transparent.
Congrats, Ashley!
Lastly, we are so excited to share that Ashley won the AIConics Innovator of the Year: Solution Provider Award this year! She was nominated along with 100+ other incredible AI leaders with over 7000 votes submitted for these awards. We are so grateful for the community’s support of our work, vision, and Ashley’s amazing leadership. This is a testament to the fact that Ashley’s vision, dedication and expertise has led to meaningful and significant impact and progress in the responsible AI field. Congratulations Ashley!
Final Thoughts
And that’s a wrap on RAISE 2022 and the NYC AI Summit 2022! We’d like to thank the AI Summit New York for co-locating RAISE 2022! Thank you for supporting us with the planning and execution of this event. Your enthusiasm for our work was incredibly appreciated throughout this process, and we’re grateful for all you do.
And a huge thank you to our community for your continued dedication to developing responsible AI practices, having consistent tough conversations and bringing new research to light in every industry. We endeavor to keep championing your successes and being a part of your responsible AI journey. We hope to see you all again next year at more events!
