Today was my first day at Pattern Computer. As its name suggests, Pattern is trying to do an amazing thing – discovering patterns in large datasets. Most AI you read about today is about pattern recognition – show a computer 100,000 cats and now it can recognize cats. That’s also an amazing accomplishment – teaching computers how to recognize patterns opens up vast new possibilities in improving the world (and just like any new technology, also making it worse).

Pattern is different. Pattern has built a “Pattern Discovery Engine” that can find previously unknown correlations and interactions within complex, high-dimensional data. It can be used across all sorts of data – examples include diagnosing pneumonia from x-rays, discovering complex gene interactions responsible for breast cancer, diagnosing colorectal cancer, etc.

I’m excited to be joining the team. A couple of months ago I posted about what I was looking for in a job – small company, working with super smart people, using cutting edge AI technology and most importantly making a positive impact on the world. Pattern matches my criteria, and in fact, was one of the companies on my list. The one box it doesn’t check is working with geospatial data, but fingers crossed, some potential customers with geospatial datasets have reached out.

Last, I wondered if I could get a job via networking and not sending out resumes. Turns out the answer is yes. I met Pattern via Keiretsu, and got to know them by helping out on the Keiretsu due diligence report (I wrote the competition section and helped on the technology section).