Roboflow CEO shares how computer vision advancement powers other AI innovation
Editor’s note: This is the first of three features profiling winners of the 2024 Prometheus Awards and going behind the scenes of how the winners are selected.
At the 2024 Prometheus Awards, the Technology Association of Iowa debuted seven new award categories, a move the industry association said was in response to marked evolutions in Iowa’s tech landscape.
“Iowa’s tech sector has evolved significantly in the past few years with advancements in AI, automation, cybersecurity and data analytics driving progress in our leading industries like agriculture, healthcare, and manufacturing,” Nick Donovan, TAI’s vice president of marketing and communications, said in an email. “These changes, along with a growing focus on talent and leadership development, inspired us to add new categories to reflect and celebrate the innovation that is shaping … Iowa’s tech ecosystem.”
Donovan said each category’s finalists are evaluated with a focus on key achievements, business impact and contributions from the organization or individual. Judges determine both the finalists and winners for each category and receive specific criteria, he said.
The AI Breakthrough of the Year category was added to honor an organization’s advancement in artificial intelligence that demonstrates transformative potential or real-world applications.
Computer vision startup Roboflow, co-founded by Joseph Nelson and Brad Dwyer, won the award and was recognized alongside finalists Provoke Solutions, UnityPoint Health, Upvote and Wells Enterprises Inc.
David Ziemann, senior director of software at GlobalVetLink and a judge for the AI Breakthrough category, said the finalists were judged on how the AI solutions optimized decision-making, improved customer experience and reduced manual effort. The business impact of the AI solution was measured by competitive advantage and productivity improvements made in the organization.
“Roboflow provided the most novel AI solution and was able to show incredible growth and impact on their business,” Ziemann said in an email. “Their Supervision library has been used at scale to improve the quality, safety, and speed of organizations. The AI solution is truly unique and showcases the best of what the technology industry in Iowa is able to create.”
Below, Joseph Nelson, co-founder and CEO of Roboflow, explains the breakthrough the startup was recognized for and how computer vision applications can help companies innovate. His responses have been lightly edited for clarity and brevity.
Provide a brief explanation of the breakthrough Roboflow was recognized for.
Roboflow is how manufacturers in Iowa — and globally — are deploying visual AI to production. Having everything an organization needs to build custom visual AI is the breakthrough we were recognized for. More than 25,000 organizations build with Roboflow, including Fortune 100 companies relying on Roboflow’s solutions to deliver value with visual AI, fast.
Can you provide background on the role of this breakthrough in the field of computer vision?
Enterprises can deploy visual AI to understand and action insights from their images and video in an afternoon. What previously may have taken a team of Ph.D.s months of effort to deploy state-of-the-art AI using your own data is possible in one day.
What was the most challenging or interesting part of developing this advancement?
Enterprises have petabytes of underutilized visual assets. Millions of cameras are deployed globally. Billion-dollar startups are being built in markets that didn’t exist five years ago thanks to computer vision, and Roboflow is proud to power them. The speed and scale that AI is being adopted means there is a firehose of innovation for us to understand and help our customers deploy. It’s challenging and interesting to navigate such a fast moving field.
What is the need for this advancement in computer vision? How will it be applied?
This advancement is saving millions of businesses from needing to create and manage custom solutions to common problems. The same way companies don’t need to build their own database or cloud hosting solutions, they shouldn’t need to grapple with creating infrastructure for computer vision applications.
Companies like Pella, one of the largest manufacturers of windows and doors in the United States, are deploying Roboflow to produce their products error free. Their chief information officer, Travis Turnbull, says this best: “Maintaining an innovative edge is critical to our strategy at Pella Corp., and advancements in AI represent an unprecedented opportunity to optimize manufacturing processes and quality controls. Partnering with Roboflow has been instrumental in accelerating our learning and deployment of innovative AI solutions to achieve our goal of leading the industry in product quality and delivery for our customers.” Logistics leaders like BNSF keep track of inventory and trains on the tracks with visual AI.
What is one thing you think people should know about computer vision or AI in general?
The sense of sight is fundamental to experiencing the world around us. About half of the neurons in the human cortex are related to vision. And yet, the software we use every day doesn’t leverage the power of sight. Simply, visual AI is a platform-level shift similar in impact to the internet itself, and visual understanding is something that nearly every company will use.