GM Appoints First Chief AI Officer to Drive Technology Innovation

How important is AI in your vehicle? It’s important enough that GM has appointed its first Chief AI Officer to help move the needle forward.

General Motors has hired Barak Turovsky, a veteran technology executive from Cisco and Google, as its first-ever chief AI officer to accelerate the company’s artificial intelligence strategy. Reporting to SVP Dave Richardson, Turovsky will guide GM’s AI vision across electric vehicles, internal combustion engines, and autonomous technology development as the automaker prioritizes technological advancement.

As automakers push for improved technology and AI involvement, we expect to see more appointments like this from other automakers.

GM embraces AI; this is the next step

GM has already added AI functionality to vehicles and manufacturing processes to help drivers and the company improve quality, efficiency, and production. Some areas in which you’ll find AI in GM vehicles include selecting EV charger locations, optimizing dealer vehicle orders, and streamlining manufacturing. AI is becoming more important than ever, and the next logical step for GM was to appoint its first Chief AI Officer, but this person had to be someone with deep knowledge of the technology and the nuances associated with AI, which makes Barak Turovsky the perfect fit.

Turovsky has the desired experience

Before this new appointment, Turovsky led many AI initiatives at Cisco and was instrumental in AI development at Google. This makes him the perfect fit to lead the charge for GM in increasing the use, understanding, and implementation of AI programming. His initial focus will be enhancing AI capabilities within GM’s vehicle lineup and operational processes. This will help accelerate the efforts to add more dynamic technology to GM vehicles as the company accelerates efforts to evolve, improve, and keep up with the current automotive landscape.

Not the only tech appointment by GM

Barak Turovsky joins a GM tea that has seen a growing emphasis on software and AI development. This new appointment as the Chief AI Officer comes after recent promotions of former Apple executives Dave Richardson and Baris Cetinok, who have been tasked with overseeing the company’s software division.
Adding Turovsky to the mix will certainly strengthen the AI expertise at GM. This should allow GM vehicles to include enhanced features, improve the company’s operational efficiency, and elevate the overall customer experience across all segments.

The end goal

You can’t expect an appointment such as this to go without a conversation regarding autonomous vehicles. GM has been involved in self-driving vehicles for some time, helping support Cruise and its work to develop and test autonomous vehicles on the streets of San Francisco and other large cities. This new appointment should help push GM closer to creating self-driving vehicles for the future. As AI is implemented into vehicles that can drive passengers without a physical driver, several hurdles will be in the way of their success.

Some of the challenges facing autonomous vehicles are:

Traffic Management

Like any other technology, there will be a mixture of traffic on the roads. Unlike other times, self-driving vehicles will have to integrate with vehicles driven by human drivers. This will be strange for all drivers to get used to, especially human drivers who will look over and see a car without a driver. Even more challenging in traffic will be the unpredictability of human drivers, which could be difficult for AI to overcome.

Liability Insurance

If a self-driving vehicle is in a crash, who is at fault? If the systems fail, will the automaker be held accountable, or will vehicle owners have to take on the responsibility for these crashes? It’s hard to imagine that owners will want to take responsibility for systems they don’t fully understand, which could seriously slow the movement toward autonomous vehicles.

Social Justice and Equity

It shouldn’t come as any surprise that self-driving vehicles will benefit the wealthy and create greater burdens on lower-income residents. Most new technology is expensive and only affordable for the upper class, which puts the brunt of traffic fines in the hands of lower-income drivers. Additionally, self-driving vehicles could put some drivers out of work, which is another inequity issue.

Barak Turovsky has his work cut out for him

Not only will Turovsky face current challenges as the new Chief AI Officer, but he will also need to navigate the challenging future of autonomous vehicles, which will be extremely reliant on AI to become widely utilized. This could mean additional challenges, such as regulatory hurdles, emergency responses, and supporting infrastructure to make these new vehicles work well on roadways.