C3.AI Top Executive Possesses High Aviation Quotient

Flying is an important aspect of Tom Siebel's life, and training is the foundation.

Monday, September 09, 2024 at 08:49 AM ET

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Tom Siebel, the chairman and CEO of C3.AI, poses outside company headquarters in Redwood City, California. [Jeff Berlin]

Key Takeaways:

Tom Siebel, a tech leader and founder of C3.AI, is a highly dedicated and safety-focused pilot, committing 50% of his extensive annual flight hours to training, including aerobatics, and utilizes aviation for business, recreation, and philanthropy.
Despite his expertise in AI, Siebel asserts that fully autonomous, pilotless aircraft are not feasible in the near future, citing the immense computational and energetic demands required to replicate human intelligence and adaptability in complex situations.
He champions AI's role in aviation as an assistive technology, best applied to predictive maintenance (e.g., C3.AI's PANDA system for the U.S. Air Force to increase aircraft availability) and supporting pilots in single-pilot operations, rather than replacing their critical decision-making.

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Whether you immediately recognize the name Tom Siebel or not, you’re likely familiar with the companies he’s led—Oracle, Siebel Systems, and C3.AI. Siebel is founder, president, and chairman of C3.AI. And if you’re curious, or even concerned, about pilots with actual intelligence being replaced by artificial intelligence, you’ll be as interested as I was to hear Siebel’s opinion about it. More on that later.

One of the things I love about aviation is that it’s the great equalizer. Being a pilot is a shared space that seems to allow who you are and what you’ve accomplished melt into the background for a while allowing the experience and joy of flying an aircraft to become the tie that binds. And if you’re paying attention, there’s almost always something you can learn from listening to another pilot.