Shield AI

Mitchell  Weiss; A.J.  Steinlage

Case | HBS Case Collection | October 2018

Shield AI

by Mitchell Weiss and A.J. Steinlage

Abstract

Shield AI’s quadcopter – with no pilot and no flight plan – could clear a building and outpace human warfighters by almost five minutes. This was not to say that it was better than the warfighters or would replace their jobs, but it was evidence that autonomous robots deployed in this fashion could keep up with the pace of operators, serve as a force multiplier, and help protect civilian and service member lives. But was it evidence that the Shield AI team should ask their newest potential customer for a contract 50-60 times more than their only two contracts to date? Would asking for what a system of coordinated, exploring robots really cost - $50 to $60 million - scare off their U.S. government customer? No one would blink if Lockheed Martin, Boeing, or other large defense companies proposed a $60 million effort to do the same, but would it make Shield AI, barely two years past founding, look arrogant, ignorant, or both?

Keywords: public entrepreneurship; artificial intelligence; AI; entrepreneurial sales; government; defense; Shield AI; Brandon Tseng; Ryan Tseng; Andrew Reiter; robots; robotics; UAV; UAVs; government sales; Entrepreneurship; Public Sector; Sales; Government Administration; National Security; Business and Government Relations; Technology Industry; United States;

Language: English

Format: Print

21 pages

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Citation:

Weiss, Mitchell, and A.J. Steinlage. "Shield AI." Harvard Business School Case 819-062, October 2018.

By April 7, 2020, over 1.4 million people worldwide had contracted the novel coronavirus (COVID-19). Governments raced to curb the spread of COVID-19 by scaling up testing, quarantining those infected, and tracing their possible contacts. It had taken Singapore’s Government Technology Agency (GovTech) and Ministry of Health (MOH) all of eight weeks to develop the world’s first nationwide deployment of a Bluetooth-based contact tracing system, TraceTogether, and deploy it in an attempt to slow the spread of COVID-19. From late January to mid-March 2020, GovTech’s Jason Bay and his team raced to create a technology that would supplement the work of Singapore’s human contact tracers. Days after its launch, Singapore’s foreign minister announced plans to open source the technology. Now, in early April, TraceTogether was a beta for the world. Whether the system would really help in Singapore, and whether other countries should adopt it was still a wide-open question

Teaching Note | HBS Case Collection | August 2019 (Revised February 2020)

Sidewalk Labs: Privacy in a City Built from the Internet Up

Leslie John and Mitch Weiss

Email mking@hbs.edu for a courtesy copy.

The case serves as a microcosm of issues of digital privacy: the availability of data – personal data in particular – has tremendous potential to improve people’s lives and commercial endeavors alike, but it also introduces a host of privacy perils. How can the benefits of this availability of personal data be realized while mitigating the pitfalls? Concern over firms’ use and misuse of consumers’ data has been increasing, fueling a debate surrounding the regulation of online privacy. In this case, students debate this question, and devise a framework of different approaches to resolving these issues.
The case provides a ripe area of inquiry for privacy issues: so-called “platform” companies, and especially platforms that run adjacent to, or even in public space. Cities are among the most ancient type of “platform,” providing a foundation for users of all types (individuals, organizations, companies) to interact, exchange, and innovate. Where platforms rely on users to generate and share data, privacy issues abound; Sidewalk Toronto is no exception.

Keywords: privacy; privacy by design; Privacy Regulation; platforms; data; data security; behavioral science; Data and Data Sets; Safety; Entrepreneurship; Business and Government Relations; Consumer Behavior;

Citation:

John, Leslie, and Mitch Weiss. "Sidewalk Labs: Privacy in a City Built from the Internet Up." Harvard Business School Teaching Note 820-023, August 2019. (Revised February 2020.) (Email mking@hbs.edu for a courtesy copy.) View Details

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