People
Michelle Yi
Development, Basis Research Institute
Michelle Yi supports Development efforts at Basis. She has over 20 years of experience in AI and cloud computing, contributed to the original IBM Watson showcased on Jeopardy, and led industry teams that developed and deployed AI solutions to solve real-world problems. She previously founded two startups and is an active investor in early stage women-led AI and infrastructure companies. Michelle is passionate about diversity, STEM education/careers for our minority communities, and serves on the board of Women in Data.
About
I work on Development and commercial go-to-market at Basis. With a background in computer science, I spent the first ten years of my career in AI research at IBM Research, where I worked on Watson which aired on Jeopardy in 2011.
It was after this that I became passionate about open science, open source, and how to commercialize and apply AI to industries that impact the daily lives of people in a positive way, and so I spent several years in consulting at Deloitte and Slalom, working across many industries to better understand the operating models that drive businesses using AI and thinking about how to build sustainable companies and revenue doing meaningful work.
With this knowledge, I subsequently founded two startups of my own in the AI space, both in infrastructure and planning, before exiting and working with Basis.
Outside of Basis, I recently co-founded a fund called Generationship to invest in early-stage female+ founders, which today only makes up approximately 2% of VC funding, and currently serve on the board of Women in Data.