FAST FIVE: Check out AI with Josh Freckleton
Meet Josh Freckleton, a visionary in the hot field of artificial intelligence and a community builder.
1) Exactly what is the Cd'A Machine Learners Club and what does this organization do?
We're a community of 120 people (and growing), largely composed of technically competent engineers, entrepreneurial business founders and curious minds from within the community. A core interest of ours is "machine learning," which is practically synonymous now with "artificial intelligence." We see AI as a pivotal tool for humanity — its invention marks an inflection point in the story of humans on this Earth. Many of us find it a sort of mission to learn, adopt and distribute proficiency in leveraging AI, for both business reasons and altruistic reasons.
We meet weekly at 4 p.m. in the Innovation Den in downtown Coeur d'Alene for group discussions about cool tech (new recruits are welcome!) and then at 5 p.m. break out into special interests for an hour. We have regular hackathons where we stay up late eating pizza and building cool tech. And then we go home and build cool tech, and consult with others in the area in helping them build cool tech.
2) Why does Coeur d'Alene need this sort of club and who would benefit from joining or sitting in on a session?
There's something magical that happens when humans get together, share an interest and decide to create. In our group, we frequently experience the adage that 1 + 1 > 2. Shout out to the Innovation Collective which embodies this, and which generously hosts us.
For the AI Club specifically, Coeur d'Alene has more brilliant people per capita than average, and I want to meet, collaborate and build with them. Members of the group tend to share that sentiment.
Let me give some specifics. One member of the group is a trucker from a family of truckers, who has taught himself software engineering, and now has paying customers for a product he's built that fills a need in the logistics space, and he's creating local jobs. Another member has been involved in building the hardware that Apple uses to manufacture Retina displays, and he's now starting several startups with a heavy AI component. Several members are artists using AI in visual arts and book authorship. Another member works for Amazon Robotics and is interested in building a farm-bot to help homesteaders. Several in our group are high schoolers also working on cool robotics projects. Several members are chief technology officers of local tech startups. Some use AI for writing code, for real estate, recruiting, politics, patent law or to create open source software.
Something I think we all experience is a steep improvement in productivity by leveraging AI, and a burning excitement about where it's going. So, if you feel like joining the frontier of a wave that will be bigger than the discovery of electricity, or the invention of the internet or Bitcoin, please join us.
3) What are some exciting projects or activities you are working on or have coming up?
I'll say first, there's no commercial focus that the group has, and I think it's important to maintain that dynamic. Because there are no ulterior motives, anyone can show up and receive/contribute whatever they want.
Some members have personal endeavors, and that's encouraged, but when "the group" pursues creation, we typically work on projects to hone our skills, experiment with cool concepts or create things we just want to exist in the world. If there's some artifact that comes out of group labors, it's often open sourced.
So, I'll mention a few group projects in brief:
First we've built several chat bots: A Christian-themed bot that users can chat with to ask questions and deepen their faith. A stoic bot that digitally revives Marcus Aurelius, and allows one to chat with him. And a comedy bot that helps the standup comedians in the group hone their craft. Playing with this bot was a family favorite over Christmas (it's hilariously rude)!
We've also built open-source software such as tools to convert text articles to audio books you can listen to, sci-fi image generation tools, a home landscaping image generator bot you can use on your own house, a Dungeons and Dragons dungeon master that guides multiple people together through text adventures and lots more
4) What is something people would be surprised to know about you?
My wife and I have built a small "food forest." I have a degree in neuroscience, and I drive a one-ton dually diesel truck, a holdover from our two years of getting out and traveling in an RV (with three bunnies and a dog!) before settling back down to raise our family.
5) What are a few myths you can dispel or thoughts you'd like to share with our community regarding tech and AI as they become more prevalent in everyday society?
The future is bright! Terrifically bright! The legacy media often portrays the opposite view. But AI is just a tool, and most risks they fear monger are not a risk of the tool, but risks of cynical people using the tool. I believe that these risks are best ameliorated by the democratization of AI. I mean that I want a world where anyone (at any competency level) can build and use AI as they see fit, including using AI to fight the minority of bad actors. That's not to say there are no risks — there are — but I think the risks are eclipsed by the tangible benefits of AI, which we're already reaping!.
If AI competency is massively distributed, instead of concentrated, the future will be a terrific one we can face with excitement, and that's my goal with this group.
Please join us, every Wednesday at 4 p.m. in the Innovation Den, downtown Coeur d'Alene — eventbrite.com/e/cda-machine-learners-ai-ml-club-tickets-640757311367 — and connect to the group on Discord to chat: https://discord.gg/vyMr34bujh
