When Gaurav Banga first picked up On Intelligence by Jeff Hawkins, he didn't finish it--he wasn't thinking about artificial intelligence all that much at the time. But nearly a decade later, it found its way back into his hands. This time he'd read it cover-to-cover, and even go on to take a page from it, which would help build the foundation for his cyber risk management startup, Balbix. --As told to Melissa Angell
"I started reading the book almost immediately after it came out, but never ended up finishing it," says founder and CEO Gaurav Banga about On Intelligence, Jeff Hawkins's 2004 exploration of the human brain and how it relates to machine intelligence. A decade later, Banga started thinking about cyber risk management and wondered if AI might help that sector. So he revisited the book--which inspired him to launch his San Jose, California-based cyber risk management startup, Balbix, in 2017. "The book describes how everything we do is performed by thousands of models inside our brain. It made me realize I shouldn't have been searching for one AI algorithm that solves every problem in cybersecurity. The Balbix Brain--my company's product--has exactly 106 AI models working in an ensemble. They all contribute to one another and enhance overall performance. If we can try to mimic even a small fraction of how the human brain works, we'll be able to unlock much more possibility with AI technology."