Artificial intelligence software and services firm Veritone Inc. (Nasdaq: VERI), which counts its main hub in Orange County, has joined an initiative from Amazon aimed at making sure the developing, cutting-edge technology is used responsibly.
Recent news stories, including the tumultuous shake-up at OpenAI, have pushed the technology further into public awareness, and raised questions about where it’s headed.
Reports that Sports Illustrated magazine used AI-produced stories added urgency to the debate. The Author’s Guild is suing OpenAI for allegedly stealing the works of well-known authors like John Grisham.
One key focus is on generative AI, a broad label that’s used to describe any type of artificial intelligence that can be used to create new text, images, video, audio, code or synthetic data. Veritone emphasizes its “AI for Good” goal.
“We’ve been almost evangelizing the safe and responsible use of this as something that people should be embracing and not fearing,” Veritone Senior Vice President Sean King said.
The company, valued around $87 million as of last week, has a staff of about 175 employees in Orange County, despite moving its headquarters designation to Denver in 2021. The company has its local offices at UCI Research Park.
Veritone’s technology includes product applications in media, sports and entertainment.
“This is an amazing tool for organizations big and small in a way that can really empower them to be able to do so much more for themselves,” King said of AI’s potential.
“AI is not replacing a lot of the things that they’re doing,” he said. “People are working to build in AI, and specifically generative AI into their existing applications,” King told the Business Journal on Nov. 30.
AWS Program
Veritone has joined the Generative AI Center of Excellence (CoE) for Amazon Web Services Partners. The program, introduced last month, will provide AWS partners with resources and tools to encourage responsible generative AI development, according to Veritone.
The Amazon-backed CoE includes education and training resources for partners that bridge the potential of artificial intelligence and the growing landscape of generative AI tools, applications, and use cases that are positioned to improve AWS customer experiences.
The CoE includes content contributions from generative AI providers and industry leaders such as Boston Consulting Group, Capgemini, IBM, McKinsey & Company and NVIDIA.
‘Upskilling’
King says AI is “upskilling” people and letting them spend less time on routine tasks.
Veritone will contribute its expertise to support the growing landscape of generative AI tools, applications and use cases.
The company went public in 2017, and at one point counted a valuation over $1 billion. The firm’s valuation has since dropped, including a decline of about 50% since the start of the year.
