Unlike tennis balls and musketeers, AI ventures don’t typically come in threes. Unless you’re Andrew Ng.
The former AI leader at both Google and Baidu has been on an entrepreneurial spree, making his third major announcement in recent months to launch Landing.ai. The startup will help make large manufacturing companies more efficient by using artificial intelligence, according Ng’s blog post today (Dec. 14).
Previously, Ng launched Deeplearning.ai and announced he would serve as chairman of Woebot, an AI chatbot for mental health. He also serves as chairman of Coursera, the online education company he cofounded in 2012.
Landing.ai’s first partner is Foxconn, a Taiwan-based company that most notably manufactures Apple products. Ng writes that his startup and Foxconn will “jointly develop and deploy AI solutions and training globally.”
Among the AI researchers credited with architecting today’s AI boom, Ng one of the most active in preaching the technology’s benefits. He often repeats that AI is the new electricity, and that it’s time to build an AI-powered society.
“It is now time to build not just an AI-powered IT industry, but an AI-powered society,” he writes. “One in which our physical needs, health care, transportation, food, and lodging are more accessible through AI, and where every person is freed from repetitive mental drudgery.”
This time, for a change, Ng is also highlighting the potential for job loss as AI makes manufacturing more efficient and reduces the need for human workers; Landing.ai will focus on job retraining programs. Given Ng’s role in founding Coursera, he says his team is uniquely equipped to tackle that challenge.