Poolside CEO: Most Companies Should Focus on AI Applications, Not Foundation Models

Poolside CEO: Most Companies Should Focus on AI Applications, Not Foundation Models

Poolside co-founder and CEO Jason Warner didn’t mince words: He thinks that most companies looking to build foundation AI models should instead focus on building applications. Poolside is an AI-powered software development platform. Image:Nathan Laine / Bloomberg / Getty Images Warner told the audience at the HumanX AI conference in Las Vegas on Monday that he doesn’t think anyone who doesn’t think intelligence is the most important commodity in the world — on par with electricity — should be building a foundation model. “If you’re one of those people, if you want to take one side of the fence, you’re a printing press for cash unlike anything we’ve ever seen in the world,” Warner said. “Or if the other side of the fence, you’re basically changing and bending the arc of humanity in a way that we’ve not done before. And I believe that to be true.” Warner added that his company is “literally” going after AGI through software. If someone looks at foundational models as more of a “nice to have…