Wendy Gonzalez

AI’s Human Backbone: The Hidden Hands That Shape The Technology

October 24, 2024

Wendy Gonzalez is the CEO of Sama, an ethical AI company that provides training and jobs with equitable pay and benefits to those who face the greatest barriers to stable employment. Among the companies it provides AI development data to are Microsoft, Ford, Walmart, Google, and many others. 

But before its current incarnation, Sama was a very different organization. It began as a non-profit, the brainchild and lifelong passion of its founder, Leila Janah, who sadly passed away in 2020. Her vision was to provide under-served communities in sub-Saharan Africa with opportunities for what she called “dignified work.” She believed this was the fastest and most sustainable way for people to not only gain their financial independence but to spread prosperity in their communities. As their program and success grew, she and Wendy concluded that to provide customers with the best in accurate, scalable, and ethical data, they needed their own platform. So began Sama’s transformation to a dual-company structure: a for-profit that raises money to fund growth and development and the Leila Janah Foundation, which has its own programs and goals, including a social enterprise accelerator program called the Give Work Challenge. The foundation holds majority ownership in the for-profit, ensuring it never strays from its mission. Before long, the possibility of expanding into AI became obvious to Wendy, which led to the company’s pivot. 

Wendy and I discussed the advantages of being a company that puts human potential and intelligence first in everything it does from numerous angles. Sama’s example shows beyond a doubt that everything we’ve been taught about how to succeed in business is far from the only way – or even the best way – to thrive. In addition, we touched on:

  • Why it’s difficult to think long-term as a non-profit

  • The relationship between human judgment and AI

  • Why Sama became a B-Corp

  • The power of putting clear ethical boundaries on the work you accept

  • Why choosing investors that align with your mission is make-or-break 

  • The future of AI and multi-modal models

  • And more

Watch or listen to the episode on YouTube, Spotify, and Apple.

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Where to find Wendy Gonzalez:

In This Episode We Cover:

(00:56) Introduction to Wendy and Sama

(05:17) The importance of our relationship to the people who make the products we use

(06:42) The human care that goes into AI development

(07:57) Sama’s mission

(09:12) How Sama got to its leadership position in the creation of ethical AI

(10:31) The focus on valuing human judgment in work

(11:34) Wendy’s path from business and consulting to working at a non-profit

(13:50) The Sama origin story

(17:13) The informal economy vs. the formal economy

(18:36) How Sama’s model helps break the poverty cycle

(20:01) Giving human capital a chance to shine

(21:30) Why Sama doesn’t pay people for training and the success of that approach

(23:44) Leila Janah and her vision for Sama

(27:38) How and why Sama converted to a for-profit company with a foundation attached

(29:42) Identifying AI as the pivot

(31:02) The difficulties of having a long-term plan in the non-profit world

(32:49) Why Sama needed to build its own technology and raise the money to do so

(36:10) How a non-profit becomes a for-profit

(37:29) How Sama split into two entities: a company and a foundation

(39:41) Sama’s governance structure including how the foundation is represented in the

(43:56) Choosing mission-aligned investors

(45:46) How Sama’s success disproves conventional business theory

(47:25) The relationship between commitment to mission and creating a valuable product at at premium price

(52:00) Turning a liability into strategy

(53:47) How Sama’s mission led it to create real value and be in position for the emergence of AI

(58:06) The need for standards and ethical guidelines for the data supply chain

(1:01:46) Combating bias and danger through visibility

(1:03:57) The case for ethical data as a competitive strategy

(1:07:21) Wendy’s thoughts on what the future of AI will bring

(1:10:30) Lighting round, including the creation of Sama’s Ethics Guild 

(1:23:46) What Wendy wishes she’d known ten years ago

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Eric may be an investor in the companies discussed.