Deep Knowledge Ventures

Deep Knowledge Ventures (DKV) is a Hong Kong based venture capital fund management company focusing on companies developing therapies for age-related disease and regenerative medicine.[1] It has generated some media coverage following a May 2014 press release.

On May 13, 2014, Deep Knowledge Ventures issued a press release stating that it had "appointed VITAL, a machine learning program capable of making investment recommendations in the life science sector, to its board [of directors]", calling it "a world first in board appointments and venture capital". VITAL is an acronym for "Validating Investment Tool for Advancing Life".[1]

Commenting on the May 2014 press release, Simon Sharwood of The Register wrote that because such an appointment is not legally feasible in Hong Kong, there is "a strong whiff of stunt and/or promotion about this". Quoting a Thomson Reuters website describing Hong Kong legislation related to corporate governance, Sharwood pointed out that in Hong Kong "the board comprises all of the directors of the company" and "a director must normally be a natural person, except that a private company may have a body corporate as its director if the company is not a member of a listed group." He concluded that since VITAL cannot be considered a "natural person", it is merely a "cosmetic" appointment to the board and that "this software is no more a Board member than Caligula's horse was a senator". Sharwood further argued that corporations frequently purchase directors and officers liability insurance but that it would be practically impossible to get such insurance for VITAL. Sharwood also wrote that were VITAL to be hacked, any misinformation it outputs could be considered "false and misleading communications".[2]

Other media rephrased each other and parts of the press release, with titles like "A Venture Capital Firm just named an Algorithm to its Board of Directors".[3][4]

References

  1. 1 2 Groome, Charles (13 May 2014). "Deep Knowledge Venture's Appoints Intelligent Investment Analysis Software VITAL as Board Member" (Press release). London: PRWeb. Retrieved 2016-01-16.
  2. ↑ Sharwood, Simon (2014-05-18). "Software 'appointed to board' of venture capital firm". The Register. Archived from the original on 2016-01-03. Retrieved 2016-01-03.
  3. ↑ Wile, Rob (13 May 2014). "A Venture Capital Firm Just Named An Algorithm To Its Board Of Directors — Here's What It Actually Does". Business Insider. Retrieved 16 January 2016.
  4. ↑ Gonzalez Angue, Leah (12 June 2014). "AI Will Sit On Company's Board Of Directors". psfk.com. Retrieved 16 January 2016.

External links

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