Ever since he was a kid, Alex Bates held a fascination for the inner workings of the mind and brain, and the interconnectedness of philosophy and mathematics.

So when the internet began really taking shape in the late 90s, it only felt natural for him to dive into the realm of artificial neural networks. He’s since devoted his professional life to anything and everything that revolves around artificial intelligence and machine learning.

Bates discusses his role as partner and technology chair of Sandbox, a company designed to support engineers by providing mentor networks and developing an investment and incubation community around AI and machine learning for B-to-B enterprise software. Among other topics, he explains the types of entrepreneurs they are best suited to help and the criteria they look for when making selections.

But before Sandbox, Bates was involved with Neocortex Ventures.

“You can think of Neocortex Ventures as like an idea laboratory, where I have data scientists help people build ventures and I can invest as well,” says Bates.

He goes on to discuss some of the most surprising and impressive recent developments in the field of AI and machine learning, including generative adversarial neural networks and the fascinating results that can emerge, such as turning artistic paintings into 3D immersive videos, and the way in which this technology underscores the value and extent of human creativity as complimentary to AI–the combination of which leads to what he calls ‘intelligence augmentation.’ Press play for more.

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