3-step approach to mobile app compliance with Checks co-founders Fergus Hurley and Nia Castelly

Key Concepts

• AI-powered compliance platform
• Zero-to-one product development
• Android Vitals, Google Play Pre-Launch Report, Reviews Analysis
• E-discovery (electronic discovery)
• GDPR (General Data Protection Regulation)
• NLP (Natural Language Processing)
• Checks compliance framework (Requirements, What you say, What you do)
• App Compliance, Code Compliance, AI Safety
• Gemini-paired compliance agents
• AI Safety: Align, Evaluate, Monitor
• Personally Identifiable Information (PII)
• Software Development Kits (SDKs)

Nia Castelly's Journey

• Early Exposure to Tech: Nia was pushed by her parents to attend Thomas Jefferson High School for Science and Tech, where she discovered and fell in love with computer science and coding.
• Computer Science and Law: She majored in computer science at Spelman College, then went to Columbia Law School. She was part of the law, science, and technology journal, which was an anomaly at the time.
• E-Discovery Specialization: As a litigator, Nia specialized in e-discovery, understanding the technological aspects of handling electronic documents in lawsuits. She notes that lawyers were initially slow to adopt technological advancements like machine learning for identifying relevant documents.
• Google and E-Discovery: Google was at the forefront of e-discovery, educating courts and being thought leaders in the space.
• Logical Thinking: Nia draws parallels between coding and legal argumentation, both requiring a logical sequence to reach a conclusion.
• Learning Machine Learning: Nia emphasizes that she is still learning about machine learning. She highlights the importance of being nimble and not fearing technology, as well as learning from experts.
• Responsible AI: Nia expresses excitement about the novel legal questions surrounding AI and the need for frameworks that promote innovation while ensuring responsible use.
• GDPR's Impact: GDPR brought privacy to the forefront of discussions, prompting companies to consider compliance in every jurisdiction where their apps are available.

Fergus Hurley's Journey

• Early Inspiration: Fergus's father, an electrical engineering professor, inspired him.
• "The New New Thing": The book "The New New Thing" about Jim Clark inspired him to explore Silicon Valley.
• MIT and Stanford: Fergus attended MIT for his master's degree and the Stanford Summer Institute of Entrepreneurship, where he learned from successful entrepreneurs.
• Venture-Backed Photo App: Fergus founded and sold one of the first venture-backed photo-app companies in 2008.
• Google Research: In 2013, Fergus joined Google Research to build AI products under Prabhakar Raghavan.
• Android Vitals: Fergus moved to London and focused on improving the Android-developer experience, creating AI-powered products like Android Vitals, Google Play Pre-Launch Report, and Reviews Analysis.
• Compliance as a Problem: Through his work with developers, Fergus identified compliance as a major pain point, especially with the emergence of GDPR.
• Validating Customer Needs: Fergus emphasizes the importance of validating customer needs before building a product. He met with Supercell, who became a paying customer of Checks later on.

The Genesis of Checks

• Collaboration on Google Play: Fergus and Nia met while working on Google Play, where Nia was the product counsel supporting the developer side.
• Solution-Oriented Legal Advice: Fergus appreciates Nia's solution-oriented approach to legal advice, contrasting it with the stereotype of lawyers simply saying "no."
• Android Vitals Success: Android Vitals improved app performance by providing transparency and benchmarking data. Netflix reduced its crash rate by 80% after seeing benchmark comparisons.
• GDPR as a Catalyst: GDPR highlighted the need for easier compliance solutions for developers.
• Area 120: Fergus applied to Area 120 with the idea for Checks, and Nia joined him after he was accepted.
• Remote Team Building: The Checks team was built remotely during the COVID-19 lockdowns.
• Hamza Hakim Harkous: Hamza, an expert in the NLP of privacy policies, joined the team as a 20% project.
• Expert Labeling: Nia and her team labeled data from privacy policies to train the NLP model.
• Giving Back to Google: Checks developed technology that was also used by other teams at Google.

Checks Compliance Framework

• Three Pillars: The Checks compliance framework consists of:
  • What the app is required to do (regulations, policies)
  • What the app says it's doing (privacy policy, safety label)
  • What the app is actually doing (dynamic and static analysis)
• Dynamic and Static Analysis: Checks runs apps on real physical devices and monitors network traffic to detect potential compliance issues.
• SDK Visibility: Checks provides visibility into the behavior of software-development kits (SDKs) within apps.
• Real-World Example: A developer for kids discovered that an SDK was sending screenshots for crash reporting, which they thought they had removed.

Checks Product Offerings

• App Compliance: Launched publicly in February 2022, providing general availability for any developer to sign up and bring the power of Checks to their app development.
• Code Compliance: Private preview announced at Google I/O, using Gemini-paired compliance agents to help developers ensure their code changes do not introduce new risks.
• AI Safety: Helping with the content safety of GenAI products, broken down into three parts:
  • Align: Setting policies for how the GenAI product should behave.
  • Evaluate: Running adversarial prompts against the model to ensure it meets the set policies.
  • Monitor: Using Guardrails to monitor input and output prompts and prevent jailbreaking or exposure of sensitive information.

The "Person of AI"

• Expanding Definition: The definition of a "person of AI" is expanding to include anyone who is using, passionate about, or implementing AI in their life or work.
• Responsibility: Everyone has a responsibility to ensure AI is developed and used responsibly.
• Transforming Industries: AI is transforming many industries, creating new jobs and opportunities.
• Continuous Learning: It is important to stay on top of the trends and maximize learning to be a successful "person of AI."

Conclusion

Checks is an AI-powered compliance platform that simplifies compliance and reduces risk for digital-product creators, enabling people to enjoy and trust digital products. The platform leverages AI to analyze privacy policies, monitor app behavior, and provide insights to developers, helping them comply with regulations and protect user privacy. Checks' offerings include App Compliance, Code Compliance, and AI Safety, addressing the evolving needs of the AI-driven world. The definition of a "person of AI" is expanding, and everyone has a responsibility to ensure AI is developed and used responsibly.