3 Non-Technical Roles every AI company needs

AI Engineers are being scouted and recruited like Star NBA Players.

Not a day goes by where we don’t hear about Company X poaching some rockstar engineers from a competitor.

And, for good reason. There’s not that many people in the world with the credentials that some of these engineers have.

Mistral AI was founded by 3 ex-Google and Meta AI researchers with a level of experience only "80-100 people have globally". They received huge amounts of funding before they even had a product.

But, what about those of us who aren’t geniuses ? Or, even Technical ?

How do we fit in ? 

Here are 3  Non-Technical AI roles we can slot into!

1) Data Licensing:

If a company has its own model, chances are it needs data to train it.

While a lot of data is open and free to use, some of it requires negotiations especially very specialized data sets (ex: medical research, finance etc)

Generative AI is sending shockwaves across the “content creation”

Industry and the transition from the current Web to one with GenAI hasn't been without issues.

Chances are, someone will need to negotiate the content/data licensing.

2) Partnerships:

You might have the best AI model in the world. It won’t matter if no one knows about it.

Distribution is essentially securing “real estate” for your GenAI model.

Say you’re OpenAI, sure there’s the actual ChatGPT website and App you want to drive traffic to. 

But, you also want to secure ChatGPT’s presence on devices like the iPhone or major websites like booking.com (ex: a ChatGPT branded feature on the Booking.com website).

And, potentially even bring in 3rd parties to your own chatgpt website. ex: ability to interact with booking.com straight from ChatGPT

3) Sales:

The first “Generative AI” products that caught our attention were Business 2 Consumer Products (ex: ChatGPT, Claude, Gemini). They can be monetized through a subscription model.

But, that’s not the only avenue to monetize. AI as a Service and Business 2 Business services are a $trillion opportunity.

Ex: Anthropic sells a license to a University Hospital to develop an early Cancer Detection model.

Whenever a Technological innovation comes through, the initial focus is on the Technology.

Engineers are the builders and the hype is about what’s “under the hood”.

The next phase is scaling the tech to everyday use cases (for individuals and businesses) and that’s where more “Business” specific functions like Sales and Partnerships have a role. 

The interplay and feedback loop between Engineering and user/client facing functions becomes essential. And, if it fails, so does the Tech.

The information contained in this newsletter is for general informational purposes only. It should not be construed as financial or investment advice. Please consult a qualified financial advisor before making any investment decisions.