#StartupsEverywhere Profile: Dr. Edouard Siregar, Founder, Sofia Labs
This profile is part of #StartupsEverywhere, an ongoing series highlighting startup leaders in ecosystems across the country. This interview has been edited for length, content, and clarity.
Using Artificial Intelligence to Maximize Human Assistance
Dr. Edouard Siregar, a former researcher with NASA, founded Sofia Labs as a way of using human-centered artificial intelligence to help users lighten their workloads and finish complex projects. We recently spoke with Dr. Siregar to learn more about his company’s product, what policymakers should do to support startups affected by the pandemic, and how the government can best advance emerging technologies.
What in your background made you interested in launching Sofia Labs?
As a kid, I read all of Carl Sagan’s books. I got a PhD in astrophysics; he really inspired me and had a strong influence on my choice of career. I wrote him a letter when I was at the NASA Goddard Space Flight Center telling him I was inspired by his books, and when he replied we started a conversation. I told him that I was supercomputing simulations at NASA, but I was frustrated because supercomputers just spit out solutions. I thought there should be a more conceptual approach to using supercomputers. He encouraged me to pursue something in that direction and said we should talk about it more when he was done with the movie “Contact,” but he died not long after that.
So that’s when I decided to start Sofia Labs—I thought I could continue on and make the jump from NASA and astrophysics to artificial intelligence. At the time, the solutions offered by supercomputers at NASA were not fully understood, and I thought having a conceptual tool—especially utilizing artificial intelligence—would be more helpful.
Can you tell us about Sofia Labs and the work that you’re doing?
When it comes to AI, the technical solutions are often very good because companies have good engineers and researchers. The conceptual framework, however, is often flawed. The problem is that we don’t spend enough time asking questions. A technically correct solution won’t work if your underlying insights about a project are flawed.
Our SaaS, called Seji, is driven by proven human-beneficial AI. Seji assists your questioning process while you seek a sound conceptual solution to a given challenge, such as a project, problem, or task. Quality conceptual solutions consist of a series of key insights, separated by technical execution episodes. Seji helps you gain the key insights, by helping you pose the right questions at the right place and time. Starting from a quality conceptual solution maximizes ROI by minimizing the resources spent.
We currently have a product that’s about to start beta testing, and our main hurdle is funding. That is a “chicken and egg” problem. You need proof of your work and a long track record for a Series A round. But we’re in a sort of “valley of death” phase, prior to Series A, where we need small amounts of funding to keep chugging along. We need to be able to move beyond angel investors and get a higher level of funding from larger investors.
What are some of the steps that local, state, and federal policymakers can take to further support entrepreneurs?
The pandemic has exposed the failures of short-term planning without long-term vision. For example, just-in-time supply chains suit the short term and can maximize near-term return on investment. But that just-in-time vision does not work in emergency situations like the current pandemic, and in fact that near-term focus can ultimately be extremely bad. Some other countries have taken a different approach to supply chains, planning them out with enough protection built in to respond during emergency situations.
Turning to federal policy, it also needs long-term, positive-sum thinking. ROI maximization is not the only end goal, and policymakers also need to consider maximizing human benefit. And we need to show policymakers that such balance is necessary. Many of the failures we are experiencing right now—and that the pandemic has exposed—are rooted in an imbalance that’s been unfolding for decades.
Providing startups with small grants can help support such human-beneficial goals, and will also help businesses grow. Growing startup businesses can in turn hire local talent, creating jobs for graduates from colleges and technical schools. And offering work visas for skilled IT workers will give startups access to talent that might not otherwise be available.
State tax incentives would also help startups. Right now, small businesses are the ones who are suffering the most. If policymakers want the economy to recover quickly—the V-shaped recovery they keep talking about—then tax incentives are a way to do it. Such incentives help the majority of employers, like small startups. If policymakers are really worried about the recovery, then they need to focus on the companies that truly need support. So that’s the way to increase the speed of the recovery.
The Trump administration announced in August a $1 billion investment in emerging technologies, including artificial intelligence. Do you think this approach is the right way to increase the country’s focus on emerging technologies?
When it comes to AI—especially if we want to compete against China and other countries—we need a strong AI community at the startup level. Right now, the administration’s plan takes a very top-down approach, but has less focus on a bottom-up movement which would include startups.
I have some skepticism regarding primarily top-down approaches, because they are often lacking at the grassroots level. Real innovation comes from the bottom-up. I think more emphasis should be placed on startups. When you look at things like numbers of employees or other metrics across companies, startups are the big drivers. So why not go directly to the source? If you want a real economic recovery, and you want to effectively compete against other countries, then startups with their rapid growth potential need to be a focus of the effort.
What is your goal for Sofia Labs moving forward?
We want to become a leader in provably human-beneficial AI. AI is really a double-edged sword right now because it can have a negative impact on the public, especially when it comes to automation. We want to guarantee to our users that the only goal of our Seji product is to maximize it’s assistance to them.
All of the information in this profile was accurate at the date and time of publication.
Engine works to ensure that policymakers look for insight from the startup ecosystem when they are considering programs and legislation that affect entrepreneurs. Together, our voice is louder and more effective. Many of our lawmakers do not have first-hand experience with the country's thriving startup ecosystem, so it’s our job to amplify that perspective. To nominate a person, company, or organization to be featured in our #StartupsEverywhere series, email edward@engine.is.
