Arul and Shirali Nigam are the sibling co-founders behind Circuit Breaker Labs, a pioneering venture focused on detecting mental health vulnerabilities in AI-powered applications. Blending Arul's technical expertise in AI with Shirali's background in Business Administration and Science, the duo have tackled the growing issue of self-harm and “AI psychosis” stemming from unsafe AI interactions. Their journey includes impactful philanthropic and technical projects, from delivering thousands of meals to frontline workers during the pandemic to building an app supporting travelers with food allergies. Now, with Circuit Breaker Labs, they’re at the forefront of AI safety in mental health, driven by a strong ethical commitment and an ability to iterate quickly based on customer and clinician feedback.

💡 What You’ll Learn from Arul and Shirali's Journeys:

🔸 Leverage Complementary Strengths: Arul and Shirali’s partnership thrives on leveraging their unique backgrounds in AI and business, highlighting the value of co-founders with diverse yet complementary expertise.

🔸 Embrace Rapid Iteration & Feedback: Their pivot from post-deployment guardrails to proactive, development-phase AI red teaming shows the importance of shipping MVPs quickly, gathering feedback, and iterating to meet real customer needs.

🔸 Center Real-World Impact: Staying closely connected to the problem, by talking to end-users, clinicians, and those impacted by unsafe AI, ensures your solution remains meaningful and effective.

🔸 Seek Help & Don’t Fear "No": Consistent outreach and asking for feedback or assistance, even from unexpected sources, is essential, "the worst they can say is no," and the connections you build can be invaluable for both product and mission growth.

You can connect with Arul and Shirali on ⁠LinkedIn⁠ to follow their journeys.

🎥 Big thanks to VidOps for supporting Founders Voyage. Use code voyage at ⁠vidops.io⁠ for 10% off expert audio, video, animation, and photography services.

👏 Props to the stellar crew: Nancy Nash, Daniel M. Melo, Carlos Javier Chacón Sánchez, Matthew Ray, and host Spencer Walker-Fooks. You bring this show to life.

🥂 Want to support the journey? Join us on ⁠Patreon⁠ and help amplify more voices like this exceptional duo Shirali and Arul.

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