In the AI Risk Reward podcast, our host, Alec Crawford (@alec06830), Founder and CEO of Artificial Intelligence Risk, Inc. aicrisk.com, interviews guests about balancing the risk and reward of Artificial Intelligence for you, your business, and society as a whole. Podcast production and sound engineering by Troutman Street Audio. You can find them on LinkedIn.

In this episode, Alec speaks with Aleks Jakulin, Founder and President of Data.Flowers, about why current AI governance approaches often focus too heavily on policing model outputs instead of building accountability around real-world actions and system resilience. Aleks argues that AI should be governed more like fire or other critical infrastructure, with strong safeguards, reporting mechanisms, and downstream institutional redesign rather than unrealistic attempts to fully control the technology itself. He also reflects on his early work in deep learning and computational conceptualization, explaining how machines can discover new concepts through interactions in data and why better data infrastructure will be essential for reliable AI systems. The conversation explores how AI is already breaking workflows in hiring, finance, education, and cybersecurity, and why organizations should prioritize resilience, accountability loops, and high-quality input data over superficial ethics frameworks. Alec and Aleks close by discussing the decentralized promise of open models, the need for incident reporting similar to aviation safety, and the long-term potential for AI to improve human flourishing through better communication, faster learning, and broader intelligence augmentation.

Summary:

AI Governance: Aleks argues that AI oversight should focus on accountability, resilience, and managing real-world consequences rather than policing every generated output.
Data Infrastructure: High-quality, controllable data infrastructure is presented as the missing foundation for safer and more reliable AI adoption.
System Resilience: Organizations need to redesign vulnerable processes in hiring, finance, education, and operations so they can withstand widespread AI use.
Open Models: Aleks suggests AI is ultimately a decentralizing force, with open and local models expanding access and reducing dependence on centralized providers.
Human Flourishing: The episode highlights AI’s potential to accelerate learning, improve visual communication, and support a more capable and intelligent society.

Referenced in this episode:

Companies/Organizations:

Data.Flowers
Artificial Intelligence Risk, Inc.
Columbia
Nvidia
NIST
OpenAI
Microsoft
OECD
MIT
FAA
NTSB
NASA
IRS
Google