Babak Abbaschian, PhD | AI & Technology Executive
Helping leaders and founders turn artificial intelligence into durable strategic advantage.
Building organizations where artificial intelligence strengthens human judgment, institutional capability, and long-term strategic advantage.
Babak works at the intersection of artificial intelligence, human judgment, and institutional change. Through advising, speaking, mentoring, and writing, he helps organizations become AI-first in ways that are responsible, operationally grounded, and human-centered, from governance and production machine learning systems to the evolving relationship between people and intelligent technology.
Areas of Focus
Operationalizing AI
Turning AI and Machine Learning experiments into production systems, operational workflows, and measurable organizational outcomes.
AI Leadership and Governance
Helping leaders define decision rights, accountability, and governance models for responsible AI adoption.
Enterprise Transformation
Guiding legacy organizations as they modernize operating models, data systems, and critical workflows for AI-enabled transformation.
Human-Centered AI
Designing AI systems that strengthen human judgment, improve work, and preserve institutional responsibility.
Applied Leadership
Churchill Downs Incorporated
Led enterprise AI and data transformation across 32 subsidiaries, supporting guest-facing and operational systems at scale, with consecutive revenue growth of 15%, 10%, and 20%.
Voxr AI
Co-founded and scaled an agentic voice AI platform to $120K+ MRR in under two years.
Noble Cortex Incorporated
Co-founded an AI venture studio guiding six startups through technical validation to $14M in venture funding.
HealthCheck
Strategic advisor for an AI-powered healthcare platform connecting intelligent diagnostics with patient care.
Selected Ventures & Institutions
Current Thinking
Babak writes and speaks about the strategic and societal implications of artificial intelligence, including building AI-first organizations, responsible innovation and governance, operationalizing machine learning systems, and the evolving relationship between humans and intelligent technology.