It’s spring again, and MIT people are meeting to talk about the way forward with AI. In general, I am so glad that we have a great roster, not only on the state level, with Gov. Healey and her team, but at the city level, with Mayor Michelle Wu, who has pioneered policies like the Boston Green New Deal and the Boston Trust Act, while remaining involved and interested in being early and proactive on technology.
And then you have private sector figures, like Noubar Afeyan of Flagship Pioneering, who has been active in imagining with us at my organization, Imagination in Action, about where things are headed.
Many of these notables were assembled this week as we met to brainstorm AI in the Boston area, and the mayor herself gave some remarks.
From Mayor Wu
The mayor started with a number of shout-outs to people involved in decision-making locally, mentioning a trip oversees with some of these advisors and other participants. She also included her staffers.
“I would not be here without the members of my team who have helped make today possible, and so much of the work that we’re doing,” Wu said, then starting into a framing of what’s ahead. “I won’t go through the many, many ways in which Boston has defined the history of this country … we are here today, and I hope we will continue gathering, because we’re going to turn big ideas into action, and the best way to source those big ideas, and to ensure that they translate into the collaboration necessary, is to just keep breaking down these silos.”
I really liked her next comment.
“Our priority is to make Boston the talent capital of the world,” Wu said, “the place where bright people and promising companies see themselves starting and scaling, and that that starts with ensuring that Boston is a home for everyone. For our part, in the city government, that means delivering the highest possible quality of life, ensuring that we’re supporting the innovation ecosystem and the special sauce that makes us stand out compared to every other city on the planet, and keeping our focus on the common good, the common wealth, the shared sense of mission-driven ecosystem that is there to find the cures, deliver the fixes and provide the answers and the innovations that are going to change history for the next 250 years and beyond.”
Boston’s In the Money
Noting positive bond ratings, a balanced budget, and absence of state bailouts, she explained how Boston is, overall, on a good financial footing, along with a sizable investment by the government of Spain, which she called “an incredible affirmation and vote of confidence in our city.”
“We are going to keep amplifying the great things that are already happening, the pitch that we can collectively make, and then start to move into tactics,” Wu continued, and then she provided some notes on what the city is doing with AI.
“The city has been charging ahead with our work to integrate AI improvements in how we deliver resident services, from our permitting processes to monitoring street infrastructure quality,” she added. “We are not a city that builds technology for the sake of building it. We do what we do in order to tackle the biggest challenges in the world, that will open up opportunities for the brightest possible future.”
With that, Wu passed the mic to Cambridge town manager Yi-an Huang.
Boston and Collaboration
“I look at so much economic, political uncertainty, all the technological opportunity that presents itself today, and it is a time where we do need to come together,” Huang said. “When people across the country think about the Boston area, they come here for the ecosystem. And it is important that we’re working across our borders, and they’re recognizing that the strength of our region is one that happens together. This ecosystem has really flourished because of so many things that were done right over so many years, and I think now is the time we need to do so much work.”
Haung talked about ordinary citizens coming together to draft regulatory frameworks, to inspire each other to innovate, and to celebrate progress.
“I think this is such an exciting conversation that we’re going to continue to have,” he said.
After these thoughts, Huang brought up former Massachusetts state economic Secretary Yvonne Hao to lead a panel in a greater discussion of where Boston is going.
“We are going to have a conversation now about culture and creativity and connectivity, and how do we make this the best talent capital of the world, and how do we work together to do it?” Hao said.
Jake Rubens, Origination Partner at Flagship Pioneering, had this to say about Massachusetts innovation:
“One thing that we have in the Commonwealth is commitment to mission,” he said. “We build more mission-focused startups than anywhere else in the world.”
He contrasted that to the usual MO in Silicon Valley.
“A lot of the companies in the bay, they’re focused on getting a quick exit, building a piece of software that they can transact on, and that is a place in supporting their local economy, and that impacts the world as well,” Rubens said. “But when it comes to AI, because we’re committed, because we’re mission driven, we’re going to be the people who actually figure out how to implement these tools, how to use these tools, which most of the world will actually just see as software, to advance our missions.”
Andrew Lau, CEO and co-founder of Jellyfish, also mentioned the value of staying power.
“People think the battles are won, the game’s already over,” he said. “We’re in inning one or two in the AI journey, and there’s been tremendous innovation. So it’s both scary and exciting around how much has happened, but we’re not done yet.”
Lily Lyman, an investment partner at Underscore VC, also contributed to the conversation, with her own baseball metaphor.
“I think we’re sort of halfway to first base,” she said. “I think we’re still so early in where this is going. And I think the first wave of this AI transformation has been the foundational model layer, and we missed it, but that doesn’t mean that we can’t capture this next wave, which I think is going to be much bigger, which is applied AI, to different verticals and different industries.”
Walking in Boston
Lau came out with another observation, based on local culture, as a way to promote more collaboration and growth.
“We all joke about the Boston culture, we look curmudgeonly on the street,” he said. “We don’t actually take the time to extend our hand. I do think we do need to nudge … lots of these big companies here are doing amazing stuff, but if they were a little more inviting and nudging, and helping the teams to actually build in the right direction and help these things, that little encouragement on the edges, by all of us, will actually make it happen, right? Because we don’t. We’re going to pass each other in the street, a little grumpy, like, stay out of our lane, and nothing will actually happen. And we lost the opportunity. So we do have to catalyze folks to do that.”
In terms of attracting and keeping talent, Lyman suggested there are two main “cohorts” of talent to court: new grads, and those with a few more years of experience, often approaching age 30.
“The thesis was like, if you can get your 10 first employees, you’ll stay, if you’re a founder,” she said, giving the example of the top team at Whoop, where her husband works.
Anthropic opening a Boston office, she said, is a big plus.
Rubens bigged up Boston in another way.
“This is just an incredible place, not just an incredible place, not just to start a company, but to be a person,” he said.
Focus on Ambition
The baseball metaphors kept coming.
“I think that there is a critique that we play small ball here on these things,” Lau said. “I think it’s really important to swing for the fences on this stuff, and have some pragmatism along the way, but if you don’t actually have the playbook or ambition, you won’t show up on the radar. That actually leads to success, right? We all play a part in this by mentoring, by pushing the next generation forward – don’t let them play small ball. And I think that’s a big part that we actually have to encourage folks to play.”
In discussing prospects, Lyman mentioned resources like the Commonwealth AI group. Lau talked about ecosystems in southern California and Israel, and what Boston can learn.
Closing Time
In concluding remarks, Hao asked each panelist what inspired techies should be focusing on now.
Lyman suggested it’s valuable to actually find something specific to work on.
“It doesn’t have to be big,” she said. “Find something specific to work on, because A, that’s how you actually build relationships, is working on something, and B, that’s how you get things going. Or else, we’ll just talk to ourselves forever, which would be so academic and intellectually elite of us. So, let’s put one foot in front of the other.”
That was a good place to end, with the suggestion that we should go forward, go out, and do the good work. All of this was a great look into the community that I’m proud to be a part of: visionary leaders, in government and in business, looking together into a future that we hope will raise all boats, and make AI a net positive for humanity.
