Professional Role and Company Overview
Dr. Sek Chai serves as the Co-Founder and Chief Technology Officer (CTO) of Latent AI, Inc., a company headquartered in Menlo Park, California, with a presence in the New York City Metropolitan Area. Latent AI specializes in pioneering edge AI technologies focused on adaptive AI model deployment for resource-constrained environments, particularly targeting IoT devices and real-time edge computing applications. The company employs between 11 and 50 employees.
At Latent AI, Dr. Chai is responsible for shaping the technology strategy and roadmap, driving innovation in the development of AI tools that enable highly efficient model compression and deployment capable of operating in low-power, limited-connectivity tactical environments.
Academic Background and Career History
Dr. Chai holds a Doctor of Philosophy (PhD) in Electrical Engineering from the Georgia Institute of Technology (1990–1999). His expertise spans computer vision, embedded systems, computational neuroscience, and the development of low-power AI algorithms.
His career includes:
- Technical Director at SRI International, where he led research efforts in advanced AI algorithms and low-power computing funded by DARPA.
- Prior to SRI, he worked at Motorola Labs and the Motorola Semiconductor Products Sector (SPS), contributing to imaging and video solutions.
- Dr. Chai is also the owner and president of ComputerVisionCentral.com, demonstrating his continued engagement with the computer vision community.
Technical Contributions and Thought Leadership
Dr. Chai has established himself as a thought leader in the edge AI domain, advocating the concept of the “edge continuum”—a distributed computing ecosystem that integrates cloud, edge data centers, and far-edge devices for adaptable and efficient AI workload management. Key points from his recent authored article, “Beyond the Cloud: Embracing AI’s Edge Continuum” (March 2025), include:
- The shift from traditional cloud-centric AI models toward a distributed "edge continuum" to overcome challenges like latency, bandwidth constraints, privacy, and security.
- The critical importance of processing AI workloads near the data source (e.g., IoT sensors, battlefield devices) to enable real-time decision-making and improve security through data locality.
- Practical applications in manufacturing, energy, and defense, such as predictive maintenance, emissions reduction, and frontline threat detection.
- The design of a multi-layered edge computing architecture exemplified by U.S. Department of Defense deployment models that enhance agility and scale.
- The emphasis on robust tooling for AI model optimization on constrained hardware.
Under his technical leadership, Latent AI has developed Adaptive AI™ technology, which achieves up to 10x model compression without compromising AI performance, enabling effective operations in environments with limited connectivity and power.
Industry Recognition and Activities
- Latent AI was named IoT World 2020 Startup of the Year and featured in Gartner’s 2020 tech reports.
- Dr. Chai serves on the steering committee for the Embedded Vision Workshop at major conferences such as CVPR, ICCV, and ECCV.
- He acts as General Chair for the VIEW (Vision Industry and Entrepreneur Workshop) at CVPR.
- He participates actively in workshops, speaking engagements, and coaching initiatives oriented towards advancing AI product research and strategy.
- He holds a leadership role on the Latent AI Board of Directors.
- His writings and posts on LinkedIn and social media reflect ongoing involvement in recruiting and technology evangelism within AI/ML domains.
Strategic Insights
Dr. Chai’s role as CTO is deeply technical and strategic, focusing on:
- Driving innovation in edge AI platforms that streamline MLOps (Machine Learning Operations), closing gaps exposed by traditional cloud-based approaches.
- Building scalable, secure, and interoperable AI infrastructure spanning the cloud-to-edge continuum.
- Positioning Latent AI at the forefront of AI for real-time, sensitive, and security-critical applications across multiple industries, including federal and defense sectors, given the company’s demonstrated collaboration with government customers.
Location and Contact
- Based in the New York City Metropolitan Area, United States.
In summary, Dr. Sek Chai is a seasoned technical leader with over 20 years of experience spanning academia, government research, and industry. His pioneering work in scalable and compressed AI models targeting edge devices gives Latent AI a unique position in the growing edge AI market. His public thought leadership, combined with his hands-on role in shaping Latent AI’s technology and product strategy, reflects a deep understanding of AI’s evolving infrastructure needs, emphasizing performance, security, and adaptability.
