Claude Baudoin, co-chair of several OMG task forces, including the AI Platform Task Force, discussed the timeliness of AI standards. He highlighted the need for standards to address interoperability and portability issues in AI, citing examples like the portability of neural network models and standardization of image classifiers. Baudoin emphasized OMG's open process for determining standards through RFIs, contrasting it with ISO's more guideline-focused approach. He encouraged active participation in OMG to shape standards, offering a competitive advantage in the market. OMG's efforts aim to provide concrete, technical standards, unlike ISO's general advice.

Action Items

• [ ] Issue a request for information to determine needed AI standards.
• [ ] Get involved in OMG's standards development process by becoming a member and attending meetings.

Outline

Introduction and Participant Roles

• Karen Quatromoni introduces herself as the Director of Public Relations for Object Management Group (OMG) and welcomes Bill Hoffman, the OMG CEO and chairman.
• Claude Baudoin introduces himself as the owner and principal at cebe IT and Knowledge Management, based in San Rafael, California.
• Claude mentions his extensive background in software engineering, IT management, and his long association with OMG, including his roles in various task forces and working groups.
• The focus of the podcast is on AI standards, and Claude is co-chairing the AI Platform Task Force for OMG.

Timing of AI Standards

• Bill Hoffman discusses the rapid evolution of AI and the timeliness of discussing AI standards.
• Claude shares an anecdote from 1993 about the premature standardization debate and how it eventually led to the development of the Unified Modeling Language (UML).
• The fundamental issue is that lack of standards can lead to significant time wasted on interoperability and portability issues, hindering innovation.
• The goal is to identify when standards are needed to allow developers to focus more on innovation rather than technical challenges.

Examples of AI Standards Needed

• Claude explains the current work on portability of neural network models with the help of Zephyr Solutions.
• The challenge is that neural network models cannot be easily moved from one platform to another due to the lack of a standard representation.
• Another area of interest is image classifiers, where there is a need for a standard to handle large datasets and descriptions of images.
• Other potential standards include metadata for data sets and semantic tagging of information, which are widely needed.

Determining AI Standards

• Bill asks how OMG determines which AI standards are needed.
• OMG has an open process that involves issuing requests for information (RFIs) to gather input from the general public, not just OMG members.
• In 2019, NIST issued an RFI, but it was five years old and did not address the current landscape, including the rise of large language models.
• OMG is considering issuing a new RFI to gather more up-to-date input on needed standards.

OMG's Approach to AI Standards

• Bill inquires about how OMG's efforts differ from other organizations like ISO and IEEE.
• ISO's standards are more like guidelines, while OMG focuses on more precise, technically detailed standards.
• OMG collaborates with ISO and IEEE, feeding specifications to ISO and having a liaison with IEEE's project group on AI terminology and data formats.
• OMG's work is more concrete and provides specific models and formats for users and developers.

Getting Involved in OMG

• Bill asks how listeners can get involved in OMG.
• OMG is a member-driven organization, and involvement requires active participation in creating standards.
• Listeners can subscribe to updates and attend quarterly meetings to generate RFPs and standards.
• The benefits of membership include shaping the standards and gaining early knowledge of their development, giving an advantage in the market.

Conclusion and Closing Remarks

• Bill emphasizes the importance of being an active participant rather than a passive observer in the standards development process.
• Claude thanks Bill for the discussion and highlights the importance of AI standards for the future.
• Karen Quatromoni concludes the podcast, thanking Claude and Bill for their insights on AI standards.

SUMMARY KEYWORDS

omg, standards, ai, model, work, claude, ieee, years, called, organization, iso, developing, premature, including, member, images, rfi, language, platform, object management group

00:09

Karen, Hello and welcome. I'm Karen Quatromoni, Director of Public Relations for Object Management Group OMG. And welcome to our OMG podcast series at OMG. We're known for driving industry standards and building tech communities. Today, we're focusing on the Object Management Group, standards development organization, and we're happy to be here with Bill Hoffman, who is the OMG CEO and chairman who will lead today's podcast session.

00:40

Hi Claude, can you briefly introduce yourself and your role?

00:43

Yeah, sure. First. Thanks Bill for having me. My name is Claude Baudoin. I am the owner and principal at a small consulting company called cebe IT and knowledge management based in San Rafael, California. What we do is Enterprise Architecture, business process, modeling, managing the knowledge lifecycle and communities of practice for clients. My background is in software engineering, and IT management. I have experience in the semiconductor energy industries, and I've been associated with OMG for over 30 years now, and I've been hanging around OMG for years, and now I have, I am co-chairing three groups within OMG, the task force on business modeling and integration, also a working group called the cloud Working Group, which publishes guidelines for cloud users, and very importantly, for the topic you have in mind today, I'm also co chair of the AI platform Task Force for OMG, wow.

01:51

And we want to talk about AI today, so that's great, and congratulations, and thank you for being a member with us for over 30 years. Very much appreciate that. So, you know, AI's exploded over the last couple years. I mean, I wouldn't even say few, I'd say even the last couple years, it's just been crazy. And it's obviously pretty much in flux, whether it's the, you know, emergence of generative AI concerns about trustworthiness and bias. Does that mean it's too early to talk about AI standards?

02:20

ell you an anecdote. First in: 1993

04:59

makes sense. Mean standards provide leverage. Leverage allows productivity increases that that all makes all makes good sense. So can you give me examples of areas where you think these standards would help AI, developers and also the users?

05:11

bikes. You train the model on: 1000

08:17

work on. It's going to be an amazing next few years. I can tell you that, how would you determine which AI standards, including some of the ones you just talked about, might be needed?

08:28

the entire world. In fact, in: 2019

10:16

So, you know, I know there's a lot of other organizations that are looking at developing AI standards. How would you think our OMG efforts differ from those?

10:26

So when we speak specifically about AI, there's a lot of stuff going on right now both at ISO, the International Organization for standards, which has a an entire subcommittee devoted to AI. It's called SC 42 and then the IEEE standards association is also doing some work on on AI. So when you look at ISO they have a large number of subgroups within SC 42 which is working on various standards. But when you look at ISO standards, a lot of them are basically guidelines. They tell people this is what you should do. They're not, they're not very precise standards, if you wish. And OMG, works much more on formal standards that include a UML model, maybe an owl ontology, maybe a specific language, data formats and a graphical notation for those models, etc. So OMG is work is much more technically precise and gives a lot more concrete direction to users and developers on how they should do things, as opposed to general advice on thou shalt do X. IEEE standards Association, we have a liaison with them too. I should have mentioned that we have liaisons with many parts of ISO. So we work together. We collaborate. We feed a lot of OMG specifications to ISO so that they become international standards. So we are working together. IEEE, I'm also co chair of a project group on AI, terminology and data formats. It's going pretty slowly. And again, it's going to be a glossary. It's not a technical model of an area of AI, which is what OMG does,

12:30

very good. Bill, you would think after 35 years, we figured out how to build standards, and I think we do a good job at it. So how can our listeners get involved?

12:41

Well, I mean Bill, thanks for asking the question. You would be probably even more qualified than I am to tell the listeners that OMG is a member driven organization. So it's it's not a couch potato opportunity. It's an opportunity to get skin in the game and get involved. So of course, people can subscribe to, you know, the LinkedIn page or the mailing list and read periodic updates. But really, people who understand the importance of standards need to get involved in creating those standards. And the best way to do that is to become an OMG member, and to start attending our quarterly meetings, and the meetings we have in between, in order to generate the RFPs and then the standards. So obviously the OMG website explains all that to you. You can find information on how become, to become a member. There is a cost associated with that, and there is obviously a cost to attend meetings, including travel. So you need to start by understanding the benefits to your organization to justify those costs and that membership. And to me, it's it boils down to this, do not wait for others to create a standard that might constrain what you do, then you suddenly discover that maybe your customers are asking you whether you comply with that standard, and you haven't seen it coming. If instead, you get a front seat and you're part of the performance, so to speak, and you are part of the team that solicits and creates and selects a standard, then you're shaping the solution, and then you are you have advanced knowledge of the way the standard is shaping up, and that'll give you an advantage in the market Once the standard is adopted because you will have started developing your tools or developing your practice as a user, as a function of the standard that you see being developed because you're participating in it. So gotta be an actor, not a passive spectator,

14:59

right? A. Leader, not a follower. Thank you, Claude. I appreciate your time.

15:04

You're welcome that you have been able to discuss this with you.

15:09

Thank you both. And so today you've been listening to Claude Baudoin speaking about AI standards. Has the time come, and Claude is representing the Object Management Group, standards development organization, thank you. Applause.