HumanX Conference: Navigating the AI Landscape
This week, Las Vegas played host to HumanX, a conference drawing thousands of startup founders, investors, and tech leaders. The central theme? AI’s value proposition and its impact on the future. The event featured discussions on the practical application of AI to boost revenue and transform businesses.
The conference opened with remarks from former Vice President Kamala Harris, who advocated for stronger collaboration between government and the tech industry. Over the following days, attendees participated in panels with prominent figures such as Vinod Khosla and Tim Draper, as well as rising stars like Hugging Face’s Thomas Wolf and Mistral’s Arthur Mensch. The bustling convention floor showcased tech giants and startups eager to engage potential customers.
Here’s a look at some of the most salient takeaways from the conference:
Patience and Strategic ROI
Conference speakers shared insights on generating long-term gains with AI. Arvind Jain, CEO of Glean, advised companies to establish dedicated “AI teams” to formulate roadmaps for integrating the technology. “Make small bets. Don’t try to immediately focus on ROI,” Jain said. “Focus on education first, training your workforce with AI.”
Sarah Guo of Conviction noted that many companies had already experienced “high-fructose corn syrup” gains, achieved by sending mass emails but those gains proved short-lived. However, Guo anticipates a continued trend. “That’s what I think we’re going to see this year in terms of those real ROI use cases,” she stated.
Valuations in the AI Boom
AI startups are commanding high valuations, prompting questions about a potential bubble. Tuhin Srivastava, CEO and cofounder of Baseten, a company specializing in AI inference, observed that investors are essentially “taking a bet” on future cash flow. He referenced Anysphere, the coding assistant company, which was reportedly in talks to raise funding at a valuation close to $10 billion based on $100 million in annualized recurring revenue (ARR) over 12 months. Additionally, the coding startup Codeium is reportedly raising funding at a $2.85 billion valuation after reaching $40 million in ARR.
Srivastava suggests that the valuations, while seemingly massive, are reasonable within the current venture landscape. He believes that they’re grounded in real growth potential, and quipped that valuations are calculated on “vibes” to some extent. “You know, we’re probably at 0.1 percent adoption of AI in the enterprise. So we have a thousand x upside there,” he explained.
For companies with limited revenue streams, talent is often a key value metric. Several investors reported valuations being assigned on a “per engineer” basis for strategic acquisitions.
The Rise of Product Engineers
Andrew Filev, CEO of Zencoder, an AI coding platform, predicts a surge in demand for highly compensated “product engineers.” These professionals will be skilled in product management (overseeing product development) and software engineering, which deals with technical details.
The Growing Importance of AI Governance
Navrina Singh, founder and CEO of Credo AI, highlighted the often-misunderstood aspects of AI governance. She defines governance with three questions:
- Do you have a handle or understanding of risk?
- How do you actually mitigate the risk of these technologies?
- How do you future-proof your AI investments for potential policy changes — not only at the company level, but at the government level?
Singh emphasized that contrary to common misconceptions, governance doesn’t necessarily slow down AI adoption; Credo AI’s data has shown the opposite, with companies improving their ROI through governance. Florian Douetteau, Dataiku’s CEO, also noted anxieties surrounding governance among his customer base at an executive field trip in September 2024.
Concerns about Deflation
Leaders across Silicon Valley and others at HumanX expressed concerns that AI could contribute to deflation. Steve Berg, a partner at Lytical Ventures, stated that while AI-based technologies are evolving rapidly, inflationary impacts are also present. The question is whether inflation or deflationary trends will become dominant as these technologies are increasingly being adopted.
