KPMG’s venture studio has recently spun out a software startup called Cranium that is dedicated to tackle the issue of AI security and compliance. The founders of the startup include Jonathan Dambrot, a partner at KPMG alongside Felix Knoll and Paul Spicer. The team consists of around 25 developers and data scientists. In order to fund the startup, KPMG and SYN Ventures have collectively contributed $7 million in venture capital.
Cranium attempts to mend the security and compliance problems related to Artificial Intelligence systems by mapping existing pipelines and validating their security, and monitoring for external threats. With the help of this product, customers can capture both in-development and deployed AI pipelines, which could include assets related to the AI lifecycle. The product provides better visibility into AI systems and helps make decisions on safe and secure AI systems.
Apart from Cranium, there are other startups attempting to do the same by defending AI models from malicious attacks and making AI more robust. Examples include HiddenLayer, Robust Intelligence, CalypsoAI and Troj.ai. Cranium is currently behind compared to these startups due to their lack of customers and revenue.
In the future, Cranium hopes to develop a rich repository of telemetry and report any risks proactively across its customer base. SYN Ventures’ managing partner Jay Leek believes that the timing of Cranium is ideal given the need of proper governance when it comes to AI security. Cranium currently has around 30 full-time employees and is planning to end the year with 40-50 employees.
