TheBridge profile: David Kanter

Name: David Kanter

Current city: San Francisco, CA

Current job: MLCommons Founder, Executive Director, and Board Member

Past job: Principal Analyst at Real World Insights

Q. How are you currently bridging the gap between innovation and regulation? MLCommons is an industry consortium focused on making AI better for everyone. Our AI Safety effort is focused on building standard benchmarks and tooling for evaluating the safety of generative AI and enabling technically sound and risk-based policy regulation: Benchmarks provide a technical toolbox for risk-based frameworks to help maximize benefits and minimize risks.

Q. Job advice in three words? Kindness, learning, integrity

Q. What can innovators learn from policymakers? Policymakers tend to have a wider view of the world - policy impacts many people, organizations, etc. and that is a very useful perspective. Similarly, policymakers are used to aligning broad and diverse constituencies and concisely communicating to a wide audience.

Q. What can policymakers learn from innovators? Generally, innovation requires extreme focus on a problem and deep technical understanding.

Q. Can you describe a skill you have carried throughout your career that has always proved to be valuable? Reading carefully, preparing for high-value activities and meetings, and being very open-minded.

Q. What is the best job interview question you have ever been asked? Design a server for YouTube.

Q. Favorite spot for a coffee meeting? Walking meeting around Twin Peaks or Philz coffee.

Q. Why are you part of TheBridge community? Why do you think it's important this community exists for technologists, policymakers, and political professionals? I run an industry consortium that fundamentally serves the tech, policy, and political community and I'd love to connect better!

Q. Each day is probably different, but are there certain skills you think are essential to your job? Listening carefully to people and having empathy is absolutely essential to running an organization

Q. Most under-rated value in an employee? Ability to consistently discover, own, and execute on problems. And being nice.

Q. Morning routine? I don't set an alarm and I'm very high energy in the morning. If I wake up in time, I love to watch the sunrise and read a bit. Otherwise, I like to dive into work and then get breakfast and a cup of tea an hour or two later.

Q. How often do I work from home? I've worked from home since 2007, and I absolutely love it. I wouldn't mind going into an office once a week, but only if it was a short walk.

Q. If I had to live in another city? I like NYC's energy, but honestly I'd love to try out many different cities for a month or two - Barcelona, Seoul, Tel Aviv, Berlin, Amsterdam are all fantastic places and I'm sure I could add a dozen more to the list. SF has wonderful intellectual energy, but most major cities have their own unique beauty.