Why be a member of the AI Guild?

The community of AI practitioners

Data, Data Science, and Deep Learning increasingly are at the center of existing and upcoming businesses. The AI Guild accelerates AI adoption by bringing together practitioners in driving forward the use of data science and machine learning in industry and startups. We focus on product over projects because we believe it is essential that the

• Use case is well-defined
• Customer need and benefit are clearly articulated
• Business case is convincing

The go-to community for accelerated AI adoption

The AI Guild is the go-to community for data scientists, data engineers, machine learners, and deep learners — and also for the entrepreneurs and professionals building AI use and business cases. We bring together experts and executives, seniors and talents, entrepreneurs and freelancers; in the interest of developing the next generation of products powered by data and artificial intelligence.

Why do AI Guild members join?

With over 200 members (September 2019) we have some initial data on expectations based on a survey when joining the community.

AI Guild members’ expectations

Additional data shows that AI Guild member’s expectations cluster around the following three preferences:

1. Community interaction: AI practitioners collaborating by community networking (136 responses), career coaching (53), and finding a senior mentor (53).
2. Industry impact: Opportunities to accelerate AI adoption by acting as a consultant (78), by working freelance (42), or becoming an entrepreneur (32).
3. Professional development: Further learning and impact opportunities by holding local masterclasses (62), joint online learning (46), open-source development (29), and prototyping products (27).

What the AI Guild already delivers

Connections, exchanges, and shared experiences are important for building a vibrant, impactful community. AI Guild members come together online and have access to personal communication channels. Increasingly, they also meet in person, e.g. for

• AI Guild dinners in Berlin, Munich, Cologne, and Stuttgart (members only)
• Career coaching and entrepreneurship training
• Masterclasses

Members’ aspirations

The 200+ members of the AI Guild cluster in the following groups.

1. Expert, senior, and junior practitioners accelerating AI for their companies.
2. Freelancers in Data Science and Machine Learning.
3. Entrepreneurs and executives building new companies and new products.

In three workshops, members worked out their aspirations for the AI Guild, and for determining viable strategies and tactics for implementation. The participants were Shravani Basu, Tristan Behrens, Rachel Berryman, Till Breuer, Filipe Conceição, Adam Green, Matteo Guzzo, Sahar Hashai, Markus Hinsche, Marcus Jones, Adam Lima, Dânia Meira (who also designed the format we used), Karthick Perumal, Oliver Rieger, Irina Vidal, and the author (acting as a scribe).

Expert, senior, and junior practitioners in the AI Guild

The following key aspirations were articulated by AI Guild members when working in or for companies.

• Implement highly relevant business cases
• Build reliable and accountable products
• Work for or with AI-first companies and products
• Grow the talent and expert pool rapidly

A look at possible strategies revealed that members stand especially for a cross-functional user orientation, i.e. driving relevant business cases by working with users and domain experts. What follows is a preference for working with data-driven companies that commit to cross-functional teams for ‘supercharging’ their product for which the reproducibility of code and the re-usability of data is seen as essential.

Photo by Franki Chamaki on Unsplash

A second important point was the desire for better defining career paths and establishing an expert academy program. A first step would be a better and shared understanding of roles and expert levels among AI practitioners. Given the strategic goal of growing the expert pool rapidly, the complementary tactic is to have larger and more powerful teams building AI products.

Freelancers in the AI Guild

The following key aspirations were articulated for the AI Guild by freelancers.

• Empower AI Guild members to become excellent practitioners
• Doing it right by facilitating freelance gigs and setting standards
• Be the chief evangelist of AI in the sense of strategy and of reaching people
• Create an abundance of talent for AI

A favorite first strategy would be to take the hassle out of being #freelance by having the AI Guild provide agency services around customer relations, contracts, and accounting. The agency would include a joint setting of standards. It would also have an exchange platform, which increases for freelancers the chance of identifying the most realistic use cases, especially when it comes to getting, using, and generating quality data.

Along a second line, the strategic recommendation was creating training at scale for talent abundance, to involve senior freelancers as mentors, and enable talents to contribute to freelance gigs. Moreover, there was a call to run workshops with companies to identify more realistic use cases and create freelance opportunities.

For outreach, the main suggestion was to define and communicate what is ethical and what is transparent practice in AI, and to establish this as best practice.

Entrepreneurs and executives in the AI Guild

With regard to entrepreneurship, the following key aspirations were articulated for the AI Guild.

• Have the AI Guild as a launchpad for AI-first startups and products
• Enable AI practitioners as technical co-founders and executives, e.g. CTO
• Empower AI Guild members to launch startups together, also in a business role
• Launch the next generation of data-centered startups driven by AI use cases

A suggested strategy is having an academy for AI entrepreneurship or collaborating with one, and thus supporting co-founders growing into a team, and launching the ‘minimally launchable product’.

Photo by Victoria Heath on Unsplash

That said, there was no appetite for yet another incubator, accelerator or venture builder. Rather, AI co-founders are keen on independence and thus controlling their future.

Looking ahead

The founding letter expressed the mission, values, and purpose of the AI Guild. In this piece, we look at the expectations and aspirations of the AI Guild members. We see alignment, particularly also in the strategies that the members recommend for the AI Guild, in pushing for accelerated AI adoption.

With 200+ leading practitioners on board, mainly in Europe, but also native to every major world market and all centers of AI adoption, the next step is now the formal incorporation of the AI Guild and moving on to the execution of mission and strategies.

If you would like to join the community, please go the www.theguild.ai