Phil Bouchard: Transforming the Research and Development Industry with Innovative AI Solutions
Fornux is a research and development company, which is actively working on artificial intelligence and various advanced technologies to help humanity develop and flourish in its different facets. Fornux offers innovative solutions to prevent applications from crashing or having any memory leaks with “C++ Superset” by using a patent-pending predictable memory manager as well as a source-to-source compiler called “AI Powershift” to speed up Python applications and protecting them from reverse engineering. The company also has a depth perception utility called “Acumen” which is more efficient than Lidar and many popular deep learning algorithms.
A Leader, Author, and an Avid Learner
Phil Bouchard is the Founder and CTO of Fornux Inc. He holds a bachelor’s degree in mathematics/computer science from the University of Sherbrooke. Phil has over 21-years of experience in the commercial industry where he worked for various companies in Montréal (QC), Ottawa (ON), San Diego (CA), and London (ON) in diverse areas including computer games, bioinformatics, and military defense. He is also the author of ‘Finite Theory: Historical Milestone in Physics,’ which was highly debated and defended in the field of research in astrophysics for over 10 years.
With an objective overview of the IT industry, Phil worked for several commercial companies in various places across North America. He had a chance to pursue a Master’s degree in image synthesis. However, he opted to keep a very wide experience and hence tends to hop to learn as much as he could. In terms of lessons, Phil has learned a lot from false marketing prophets who do not deliver solutions and services because their initiative falls short.
Knowing the Surroundings to Innovate better
Phil started working with the open-source community while working on the original memory manager where he noticed that the better it got, the fewer people were contributing because they saw its potential. So, he says that looking at one’s surroundings will help everyone to have an idea of where the project can lead to.
“The same thing with the debate on the astrophysics project happened because the more advanced it got, the more emotional debaters became as well. So, in this particular case, negative feedbacks got converted into a positive interpretation on my end,” he adds.
Artificial Intelligence for Better Decision Making
According to Phil, today’s AI is focusing on narrow intelligence. He says that until it can evolve into general intelligence, innovation will gradually progress and will get capped like the internet boom of the 1990s. Phil feels that the same principle will apply to every layer of intelligence as it progresses. “The AI that we see today tends to replace the repetitive aspects of our daily lives, although it can do much more than that. It can help humans in research, any advanced mathematical equations while getting accurate predictions, and achieve difficulty or what we perceive as dangerous tasks,” he says.
Therefore, Phil believes in AI having a reason for living which is aimed at scientific research that can only be a positive thing, in contrast with what many may believe. He further asserts that the role of a leader will be greatly improved, facilitated, and narrowed down based on all the statistics the AI will provide for better decision-making.
Four Vital Attributes Every CTO Should Possess
According to Phil, there are four main attributes every CTO should possess.
1. Visionary with Pragmatism: Phil says that having an idea is different compared to its development aspect. This is to assess the meaning of those beliefs in terms of the success of their practical applications.
2. Driven: He believes that CTOs or executives for that matter need to have this attribute of being a driving force to accomplish tasks and meet deadlines for ongoing projects. That being said, CTO’s must always be excited about what is being done.
3. Entrepreneurial: Phil remarks that sacrificing personal time, no determined schedule, meeting different people, ability to manage stress, withstand pressure, adapt to new contexts, are all notions that CTOs should be aware of. “I did try many things only to conclude that the most complex ones have the biggest potential,” he adds.
4. Sacrifice: He claims that CTOs should have to sacrifice many things if they want to move forward with their business.
Creation as the Tool to Overcome Challenges
Phil mentions that the primary challenge for anyone in the technology field is to find knowledgeable and ambitious executives who would be ever ready to fight for the right cause. Another challenge one faces is to overcome an environment that favors endless administration methods over innovation. Phil adds that innovation can help deliver projects that transpire higher productivity, better efficiency, and have a better ecosystem all around which blurs out the challenges that are to be faced.
An Optimistic View Towards the Future
Artificial intelligence and astrophysics are way overcomplicated in most cases, and we’re here to simplify these areas as needed, says Phil. “By simplifying those, we’ll be achieving our goals with an optimistic vision. With that vision in mind, we see Fornuxto be one of the top companies in the future when it comes to either of those subjects. The whole industry will never be saturated. The productivity, in general, will dramatically increase within the next 10 years”, believes Phil.
Words of Wisdom
Phil opines that reality check is foremost, as there is about an 80% chance that the business might not work out. Therefore, as an emerging leader with experience, he advises others to know their strength and weakness within the industry. “Make yourself aware of new technologies, what’s coming out, what’s being done, and immerse yourself in whatever you can learn from. Last but not least, networking, networking, networking!” says Phil.
