OpenAI now has a 'chance to reset': Appian CEO
The tech industry is still reeling from the days of turmoil at OpenAI.
Appian Founder and CEO Matt Calkins (APPN) says that what happened at OpenAI seems to be a "governance failure. Calkins explains that he understands how it can happen, saying "in our industry, the software industry, we've got a lot of talented, essential, and sometimes unpolished people and the board's job is to educate, not necessarily to discipline, but to try to smooth the edges without killing the golden goose."
Calkins doesn't think that issues at OpenAI are resolved, but that these changes represent "a chance to reset."
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Video Transcript
AJIKO FUJITA: You've sort of been watching from afar. Maybe a little nervous to see what's going to happen within OpenAI. But how have you been making sense of what has transpired over the last five days?
MATT CALKINS: Yeah. Now of course, I'm watching it from the outside. I'm not on the board. Not inside these discussions.
But what it seems like is we've just had a breakdown, a kind of a governance failure. A different point of view between management and the board. And I can totally see how this happens.
You know, in our industry, the software industry, we've got a lot of talented, essential, and sometimes unpolished people. And the board's job is to educate. Not necessarily to discipline.
But to try to smooth the edges without killing the golden goose. I started acting when I was 26. And it's possible that I tested the patience of my board a few times as well.
RACHELLE AKUFFO: So when you look at the current board makeup now, some of the names that are still being thrown out here, does that make you feel better about this issue of balancing the risks of AI with also the growth of the technology?
MATT CALKINS: Yeah. Well, I do think that we have a chance to restart now. OpenAI-- I don't think this weekend solved any of the problems. Whatever problems existed there, we've still got them.
But we have a chance for reset. The issues are on the table. And I think we've got the best possible way now to address them in a professional manner. So that's good.
It does really say something, though, about this industry. OpenAI is a flagship in AI. And we've had a close glimpse inside of how they work in the past few days.
We see they're less than 1,000 people. We see that they've got this kind of a disagreement. This conflict between the board and the governance that maybe nothing's perfect.
It's really interesting to see what an absolute leader in AI looks like right now. And I think it's a signal to the rest of us that this is a growing-- and not necessarily a very mature industry in a lot of ways. This is what the bleeding edge looks like.
AJIKO FUJITA: Matt, it's tough to believe that-- it's just been a year since the world has been introduced to ChatGPT. But talk to me about how Appian integrates OpenAI's technology, and why that was a partnership that made sense for you. Has that idea shifted?
MATT CALKINS: Yeah, it's been just a year. It's amazing. I think it was a year ago today that it broke out.
We use OpenAI thoroughly in our product. And speaking not just for Appian here. But for our industry, generally. The combination of generative AI and process automation is a beautiful thing.
We can take a form and turn that form automatically into an application. Collecting all the data. You know, routing it to the right place. Handling it like a case.
It's amazing what you can do when generative AI is turned toward building a process, not just textual output. We also use it as a co-pilot to help you develop applications. We use it as a way to query vast volumes of text in order to understand their meaning quickly. The marriage of process automation and AI, specifically OpenAI's generative technology, has been extraordinarily productive.
