Orit Farkash HaCohen on AI Regulation, Burnout, Israel’s Natural Gas Exploration, and Diversity in High-Tech

On the 4th episode of Invested, Michael hosts Member of the Israeli Knesset Orit Farkash Hacohen. Orit is the former minister of Innovation, Technology and Space for the State of Israel, and former Minister for Tourism & Strategic Affairs—notably during Coronavirus. She previously served as the first female Chair of Israel’s Electric Authority. She has also been instrumental in Israel’s offshore gas exploration, and has worked tirelessly to advance tech diplomacy efforts between Israel and the United States, as well as the Arab world and other countries. Orit holds an LLB from Hebrew University and an MPA from Harvard University. She is married with four children. You can find her on Twitter @FarkashOrit, where she tweets mostly in Hebrew. She is also active on Linkedin and Facebook. Please enjoy and rate this episode 5 stars wherever you stream your podcasts! Key Topics: [0:00] Dealing with bad state actors [00:47] Introduction [3:34] International AI Regulation [5:30] Why is it important for the government to be involved in AI ethics? [7:36] Should Israel be a leader or joiner in international regulation of AI? [9:32] What is unique about Israel’s culture? [11:20] Is it the role of the Ministry of Innovation to regulate AI? [14:30] How to deal with bad state actors with technology? [18:02] Israel’s natural gas exploration [22:35] Strategic vs. financial objectives in energy decisions [29:52] Solar energy and renewables in Israel [33:58] Orit’s view on national influence by doing the right thing [37:40] Computational and synthetic biology [39:10] Burnout [42:13] Orit’s children [44:40] Socioeconomic diversity in Israel high-tech [47:30] Social mobility in Israel [52:25] What’s unique about Orit [55:15] Fixing Israel’s political polarization [56:30] How Orit wants to be remembered [57:00] What Orit would title her biography Resources: To follow Orit on Twitter: https://twitter.com/FarkashOrit To follow Orit on LinkedIn: https://il.linkedin.com/in/orit-farkash-hacohen-2a80543 To follow Orit on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/oritfarkashhacohen/ For show notes and past guests on Invested, please visit: content.aleph.vc Learn more about Aleph: aleph.vc Sign up for Aleph’s monthly email newsletter: aleph.vc For the transcript of this episode, go to https://content.aleph.vc/invested-episode-04 Subscribe to our YouTube channel: https://www.youtube.com/@aleph-vc/ Follow Michael on Twitter: twitter.com/mikeeisenberg Follow Michael on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/mieisenberg/ Follow Aleph on Twitter: https://twitter.com/mikeeisenberg Follow Aleph on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/aleph-vc/ Follow Aleph on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/aleph.vc/ Credits: Executive Producer: Erica Marom Producer: Andrew Jacobson Video and Editing: Ron Baranov Music and Art: Uri Ar Design: Rony Karadi