While ChatGPT is all the rage, our privacy has never been more at risk. Journey – one of the companies for which I am an angel investor – aims to solve this in a unique way.

A few months ago, I asked Brett Shockley, the CEO of Journey, about the privacy implications of ChatGPT. The Generative AI (GAI) engine behind ChatGPT (currently used by 45% of US corporations) reads large segments of the internet, which contain people’s private information (including on Facebook, Instagram, etc).

After discussing how no one had written about the privacy risks of GAI – save a few law firms warning about the regulatory risks of using it – I offered to write a white paper on the topic. I was most excited to get this critical information out, but the second-order effect was also great: I was asked to join their advisory board.

Rewind a few years… I joined Athena in 2016 when a small public company considered having me join their board. I knew that I had a lot to learn before that happened. Ultimately, that company ended up going in an entirely different direction.

Being part of Athena, however, made me realize that my preferred place as an advisor is with private companies. Six years later, Journey.ai, the coolest company I’ve known, led by a CEO who is now a close friend, asked me to join their already impressive board of advisors. I couldn’t be more thrilled.

As we enter the second half of our careers, we are lucky to have more choices. How do we want to interact with our investments? How much of a role and what role do we want operationally? And what impact do we want to have?

I want to use my 25 years of experience as a technology analyst and more recently, published author, to increase the odds that technology companies we really need can thrive. Being able to contribute in a meaningful way to the outcome of one of society’s greatest issues (privacy), as well as the outcome of my investment, is why I love being an angel investor.