Securing the Foundations of AI: Addressing the Past to Safeguard the Future
AI’s future hinges on an ecosystem built on decades of technical debt, fragmented tools, and opaque processes; creating vulnerabilities that threaten the reliability and security of modern applications. In this talk, Peter will examine how the legacy of open-source numerical computing and software supply chains is influencing AI’s trajectory. Drawing from over a decade of leadership in the Python and scientific computing communities, Peter will share strategies for tackling these challenges: improving transparency in data and dependencies, building curated software stacks, addressing hardware compatibility issues, and creating resilient build environments. He will also explore how fostering collaboration across academia, open-source communities, and enterprises can boost the quality of foundational tools. Audience members will leave this session with actionable insights into managing AI’s complexity and risks, including how to secure their supply chains, optimize tools for hardware, and prevent past software sins from poisoning the future of AI. Peter's insights are essential for anyone looking to build AI systems that are secure and scalable in the face of growing demand.
Peter Wang is the Chief AI and Innovation Officer and Co-founder of Anaconda. Peter leads Anaconda’s AI Incubator, which focuses on advancing core Python technologies and developing new frontiers in open-source AI and machine learning, especially in the areas of edge computing, data privacy, and decentralized computing. Prior to founding Anaconda, Peter spent 15 years in software design and development across a broad range of areas, including 3D graphics, geophysics, large data simulation and visualization, financial risk modeling, and medical imaging. As a creator of the PyData community and conferences, he devotes time and energy to growing the Python data science community and advocating for increasing data literacy around the world. Peter holds a BA in Physics from Cornell University.