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Kubiya.ai: AI DevOps Workflow Automation

Amit Eyal Govrin, CEO, Kubiya.ai
Kubiya logo

Kubiya.ai: AI DevOps Workflow Automation

A business executive, entrepreneur and a team builder, Amit has been managing business operations and fund raising, while steering technology companies into global markets. As an OpenSource enthusiast with deep domain expertise in the DevOps and DevSecOps segments, he enjoys the challenge of bringing a fresh and unique approach to solve market inefficiencies at scale. He is the CEO of Kubiya.ai, a platform that leverages conversational AI to turn complex operations into simple conversations – powering the world of AI DevOps Workflow Automation. In an interview, he speaks on an array of topics. Excerpts:

Conception of Kubiya.ai

Kubiya provides a unique ‘embedded’ AI experience for devops and end-users alike. On one hand, Conversational AI chatbot that lives within Slack, Microsoft Teams and a CLI offers a ChatGPT-like experience for organizational users (ex software developers, business users, etc) who are looking to self-service themselves to operational workflows in a simple and secure way. The other side of the coin are operators who through the use of GenerativeAI in a low-code editor can prompt any operational workflow and have it created, validated and tested within seconds. Says Amit, the world of Self-Service for DevOps platforms has largely failed on delivering on the promise of self-service primarily due to the lack of end-user experience. This causes a barrier to adopt, implement, and maintain such platforms which is precisely what the approach Kubiya.ai aims to solve.

Generative AI for Cloud Operations

“We are creating a new approach to DevOps we call Intent-Based-Operations. With all the attention given to Generative AI technologies, we are drawing a clear path to those capabilities in the world of cloud operations.. Effectively our virtual assistant has the ability to turn complex operations into simple conversations by contextualizing the human intent using natural language, filling in all the missing parameters (or having a closed loop conversation to clarify intents), and then serving the user with exactly what they require.”

AI technology- perception vs reality

“AI should not be seen as a license to kill, nor should it be viewed as a replacement for humans.  At the end of the day AI is an enabler for human productivity– albeit a very significant one- that alleviates the heavy dependency on humans in the loop at all times.”   As a technology enthusiast Amit contends that in a perfect world, the human to machine interaction should have clear guardrails and well-defined hand off in place for this to work.  “There is a clear difference between what technology can do, vs what humans will allow it to do. Case in point, technologically it’s already feasible, but how close are we really to a world of self-driving cars?”

Kubiya’s AI DevOps Workflow Automation

One of the defining points is to enable people to turn complex operations into simple conversations using natural language- which makes it easy for any end-user to consume.  “Secondly, we have created a bi-direcitonal feedback loop using reinforcement learning with human feedback (RLHF), a method used to train LLMs on domain specific knowledge which is core to ‘embedding’.   This is similar to the approach Waze took in the world of navigation systems – we allow the end-nodes to provide the system input. Im Kubiya a classic example of provisioning a new environment – a Developer prompts Kubiya: “I want a new development environment in AWS US East 1 Region, with Machine M4 2XL, with security group CG-10231456, and machine imagine AMI-120356ff347”. The system is smart enough to auto-fill the parameters based on the prompts and provision the new environment without needing to go through any additional steps.   The added benefit to this approach is that it personalizes the experience for the users, while removing the heavy lifting from the operators who traditionally would have had to maintain the system on their own.  Now the maintenance of the system becomes democratized across many users with LLMs constantly training on user-interactions which significantly reduces the overhead and cost of adoption.

Leadership traits

Hunger to succeed is one of the main traits Amit exhibits. “Everyone in our company is not only super talented but have an intense hunger to succeed. We check our egos at the door and go to work every single day. Yes, I am very much all the above, but above all I pride myself in being a decent human being who is driven to success for all the right reasons. It’s important to me to help leave this world a better place than when I arrived. As someone who has failed plenty of times in business, I can honestly say I have no regrets and learned plenty from those experiences. However, I’m less afraid of trying something and failing then not have tried it at all.”

“I think as a founder of an AI company, with all the hype surrounding our space, that we need to be conscious not to get drunk off of our own cool aid.  There are plenty of groundbreaking things we can do with AI, but not all of them have a place in business.  Be sure to focus on a real problem and having the AI as an enabler to solve it, rather than building an AI solution and then looking for a problem to solve.”

The Success Mantra

“Keep innovating and always stay hungry.   As someone who has seen firsthand companies with strong success trajectories tail off over time because they forgot how they reached the peak, we need to remember that complacency is our biggest enemy. So celebrate milestones (very important), be thankful for what you have accomplished, reflect on the journey, but always stay hungry.”

Kubiya’s DevOps virtual assistant

One of the defining points is to enable people to turn complex operations into simple conversations using natural language- which makes it easy for any end-user to use.  “Secondly, we have created a bi-directional feedback loop between the end users and the machines.  Similar to the approach Waze took in the world of navigation systems – we allow the end-nodes to provide the system input (ex: as a developer next time I ask for a new development environment, I want it to be on US East 1 Region, with Machine M4 2XL, with security group CG-10231456, and machine imagine AMI-120356ff347- this can then be summoned by the user by asking in plain English for a new environment).”  The added benefit to this approach is that it personalizes the experience for the users, while removing the heavy lifting from the operators who traditionally would have had to maintain the system on their own.  Now the maintenance of the system becomes democratized across many users and avoids critical points of failure.

Leadership traits

Hunger to succeed is one of the main traits Amit exhibits. “Everyone in our company is not only super talented but have an intense hunger to succeed. We check our egos at the door and go to work every single day. Yes, I am very much all the above, but above all I pride myself in being a decent human being who is driven to success for all the right reasons. It’s important to me to help leave this world a better place than when I arrived. As someone who has failed plenty of times in business, I can honestly say I have no regrets and learned plenty from those experiences. However, I’m less afraid of trying something and failing then not have tried it at all.”

“I think as a founder of an AI company, with all the hype surrounding our space, that we need to be conscious not to get drunk off of our own cool aid.  There are plenty of groundbreaking things we can do with AI, but not all of them have a place in business.  Be sure to focus on a real problem and having the AI as an enabler to solve it, rather than building an AI solution and then looking for a problem to solve.”

The Success Mantra

“Keep innovating and always stay hungry.   As someone who has seen firsthand companies with strong success trajectories tail off over time because they forgot how they reached the peak, we need to remember that complacency is our biggest enemy. So celebrate milestones (very important), be thankful for what you have accomplished, reflect on the journey, but always stay hungry.”

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MemryX: a new Edge AI startup that has developed a highly efficient and scalable AI accelerator.

Keith Kressin, President & CEO, MemryX

MemryX: a new Edge AI startup that has developed a highly efficient and scalable AI accelerator.

As the CEO of MemryX, Inc., an innovative Edge AI startup founded by professors at the University of Michigan in Ann Arbor, Keith Kressin has been a passionate entrepreneur. Prior to joining MemryX, Keith was a SVP at Qualcomm, leading a spate of activities including the Snapdragon roadmap, technologies for application processing, company strategy, competitive analysis, and more. In an interview, he speaks on an array of topics. Excerpts:

Conception of MemryX

“Our team wanted to develop an AI accelerator that was customer friendly in terms of ease-of-use and scalability, while providing excellent technical metrics.” Adds Keith that the team wanted to develop a hardware accelerator that could be adapted to any trained AI software model, rather than needing to train and then modify the model to run well on target hardware. “So our focus from the start was on developing technology to meet a key customer need and hence MemryX was born.”

Challenges galore – AI technology

AI continues to grow in a variety of different applications and industries as it is used to make cities, companies, and hospitals smarter, help increasing manufacturing efficiencies, better support education inside and outside the classroom, and more.  “AI can add a layer of intelligence into any device that computes. Of course, every new technology is just a tool and those tools need to be used to increase to increase productivity and quality of life, rather than the limit freedoms or increase natural biases.” MemryX envisions accelerating Edge AI by providing a highly efficient and scalable solution that is simple to deploy and support.”

The key is the company’s innovative MemryX architecture.  “Our architecture was designed to natively support pre-trained AI models with high efficiency and utilization.  If one doesn’t consider model structures and framework, and only focuses on HW efficiency the result is theoretically strong, but practically weak.  MemryX architecture was designed not for white papers or theoretical achievements, but for broad customer scale and deployment.” The combination of at-memory computing, pure dataflow, and our unique memory-based fabric interconnect all support our ability to scale verified models into high volume with a very simple to use software SDK.

One trap for AI is focusing on the core technology itself, rather than the practical application of that technology throughout the entire value chain.  As in most industries, solving customer needs be in the forefront. AI is extremely complex with many facets.  It is also very exciting and dynamic field that attracts individuals with a wide variety of background and skills. The key is to stay focused on the larger picture while being extremely adaptable to market and technology changes.

Leadership traits

“It all starts with clear and transparent organization & communications.  People need to understand objectives, timelines, and be given the tools/resources to achieve well defined goals.  Teams need to be encouraged to be open and honest.”  Realistic, approachable, in-tune with all functions of the entire organization, humble, goal-centric, empowering, and one who honestly cares about the company, the team, and the individual. Keith’s leadership style is approachable with realistic expectations and stays in-tune with all functions of the entire organization. He honestly cares about the company, the team, and the individual.

“Fear in failing is usually rooted in the reaction to the failure in terms of embarrassment or punishment. However, if leaders encourage an intelligent risk-taking culture where we learn from our failures, then we grow to become a stronger organization. Further, failures from risk-taking can be minimized through proper hiring, organization, funding, and goal setting.”

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RAIN Defense + AI: Creating synergies between AI and defense sectors

Norine MacDonald KC, President & Founder, RAIN DEFENSE + AI

RAIN Defense + AI: Creating synergies between AI and defense sectors

Norine MacDonald is the President and Founder of RAIN Defense + AI, an exciting new global platform on AI and Defense. She was formerly President and Founder of The International Council on Security and Development (ICOS), an international security and development think tank founded in 2002. Ms MacDonald is a former Distinguished Research Fellow for National Defense University in Washington and a graduate from Massachusetts Institute of Technology Sloan School of Management program in Artificial Intelligence (AI). In an interview, she speaks on an array of topics. Excerpts:

Conception of RAIN Defense + AI

For Ms Norine MacDonald it is clear that the business of war is being overtaken by the advent of AI, and a competitive and fast-moving global environment. Western governments need to be competitive with other countries, primarily China, that have been investing heavily in the sector.

The AI + Defense sector offers significant investment opportunities, particularly for non-traditional business players. The global AI + Defense market is projected to grow to $61 billion by 2027.

“There is no specialized single company or platform for the AI + Defense sector to source comprehensive, intelligible and relevant knowledge/data and connect to all the players globally” said Ms Norine MacDonald.

RAIN Defense + AI is an exciting new venture working at the critical intersection of AI and Defense:

  • RAIN INDUSTRY provides access to expert knowledge and data analytics on current and emerging AI technologies on defense platforms for all market participants across sectors and geographies.
  • RAINCLOUD creates a global community content platform with a validated network of multidisciplinary professionals, with curated data and news and product info in AI and defense.

RAIN, the AI and defense solution: the RAINCLOUD global platform

To understand and unpack the complex world of AI and defense, RAIN  produces commercial INDUSTRY Reports which provide:

  • benchmarking  various defense sector platforms and AI, along with trends and forecasting.
  • complete information “Who’s Who” data on individuals working in the field of AI and defence.
  • a data and directory on Venture Capital players active in AI and defense. Norine says: “We have mapped the 500 most influential individuals in the US in our RAIN 500 and we have done an extensive report on the 40 main venture capital firms in the US and the 150 defense and dual-use startups they invest in.”

As a gateway to RAIN Research data and content platform RAINCLOUD will be launched in 2023.

“For RAIN, our access to government clients has been made much easier through our business connection as a data provider with Grist Mill Exchange, which functions as a data marketplace for government and national security enterprises. Through Grist Mill Exchange we will be able to provide our INDUSTRY reports to  government stakeholders and to onboard them to the RAINCLOUD global platform where they can connect with  AI startups, venture capitalists, defense companies and scientists working in the broad field of AI and defense.”

AI and Defence: a new Ethical Challenge

“AI solutions in defense are now more than ever driven by the commercial sector and dual-use technology. While onboarding such technology in the military world is revolutionary in terms of competitiveness, we cannot ignore the important ethical questions inherent in their adoption.”

AI enables unprecedented opportunities for more autonomy, and this changes the human-machine interaction. Therefore, we decided from the beginning that RAIN would also have an Ethics Division, which helps unpack the ethical and legal arguments involved and supports discussion and debate on these issues, she observed.

Leadership Traits

“The RAIN team has been working together for more than 20 years on international security and policy issues in Afghanistan, Latin America and the Middle East. To launch a new company requires both creativity and stamina. We are lucky to have a close-knit team that works well both independently and together.” Norine believes in having a hands-on approach to the work in the sense that she involves herself in the conception, research and implementation of projects, from field work in conflict zones contexts to testifying at the highest levels of government. “If you have a good business idea stick to it –  but at the same time be flexible and adapt as you go along. Hard work, high standards and discipline will never fail.”

AI, the Defense sector and start-ups

In the AI and defense sector, there are exciting new companies developing defense and dual-use technology. These start-ups benefit from new ways to work directly with the government to develop and test their prototypes. At the same time, there are new venture capital firms that focus especially on defense and national security-oriented startups.

“We want to bring all these actors together on our RAINCLOUD platform for mutual benefit. Companies will be able to showcase their latest products and services in our virtual trade show”, MacDonald said.

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PSI FLS Fuzzy Logik & Neuro Systeme GmbH: Optimizing Industrial Business Processes with AI

Rudolf Felix, CEO, PSI FLS Fuzzy Logik & Neuro Systeme GmbH

PSI FLS Fuzzy Logik & Neuro Systeme GmbH: Optimizing Industrial Business Processes with AI

Rudolf Felix is the CEO of PSI FLS Fuzzy Logik & Neuro Systeme GmbH, a German company that specializes in developing and providing software solutions for complex technical systems. Rudolf Felix has been with FLS in the PSI Group since 2008 and has been the CEO since already 1992. Under his leadership, the company has grown to become a leading provider of software solutions for technical systems, particularly in the fields of energy, industry, and transportation. Rudolf Felix has also been involved in various research and development projects related to fuzzy logic and artificial intelligence and has published numerous papers in these fields. In an interview, he speaks on an array of subjects. Excerpts:

Conception of PSI FLS Fuzzy Logik & Neuro Systeme

Says Rudolf that making decisions is crucial for successful and efficient operation in every industrial business process. Decision-making processes that are based on business goals must reflect both long-term strategies and the current operational situation. If the decisions are based on data and the pros and cons between the business process goals are machine evaluated, machine learned and optimized, business process owners and operators get the best possible benefit. “An optimized and explainable decision support is particularly helpful here. And this is exactly what PSI FLS and the specially developed Qualicision AI technology is all about. It combines both technical and economical business goals. An efficient, easy-to-use, and explainable software that is used for business process optimization is what we deliver. It is data-based, and balances out conflicting business process goals ahead of classic algorithms and provides for the performance that our customers across many industrial sectors appreciate.”

AI- Challenges galore

According to Rudolf, many of the industry’s industrial AI use cases have long been developed and in use. Perhaps in the pandemic time, the constant work with computers at home is an additional momentum. “But in my view, business processes in industry have evolved in their objectives rather because of the growing importance of topics such as digitalization, exploitation of data, sustainability and green energy or new possibilities to integrate automatized decision-making in context with many new important aspects in business processes. Therefore, the complexity of the processes has rather increased.”

PSI FLS Fuzzy Logik & Neuro Systeme AI solution

Qualicision AI stands for qualified support with decision-making when optimizing business processes. Qualicision technology was originally based on fuzzy logic which has been extended by a full stack of AI methods that combines the advantages of all of them. In this combination Qualicision AI helps to integrate decision-making expertise of people with business process know-how and connects it with data-driven AI. In addition, the Qualicision AI software has been extended by highly automated deployment. Machine-learned explainability mechanisms are part of it, too. In business processes there are a lot of pros and cons when decisions must be made. Therefore, uncertainty is intrinsic even if all data is clearly measured and in good shape. Automated recognition of these kinds of uncertainty, in particular stemming from the variety of the data and interaction between decision options, is extremely important. “Our Qualicision AI based tools help to identify and to exploit tolerances in the business processes and to optimize out uncertainty. Many use cases show that once Qualicision AI is introduced the business process efficiency increases by 10 to even 25 percent compared to the previous unoptimized status quo.”

Leadership traits

Trying to get inspired from people for whom and with whom you work and trying to inspire them, too. Everything else is the right technology you must have and the passion to work with it.  “When you work on something with passion, the thought of possible difficulties is more of a drive. This is especially true when you are working on the implementation of something you have been involved in from the beginning on.”

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