AGI Will Enable ‘Fully Autonomous Businesses,’ Richard Margolin Says, So Companies Should Prepare by Automating More Complex Tasks Now

The RoboKind co-founder and current CTO at Highwire Capital—and AI 75 honoree—talks about the ability of artificial intelligence to create value, how Highwire is transforming business by matching traditional companies with innovative technologies, and the surprising thing he does for exercise.

Tech wizard Richard Margolin was named last year to Dallas Innovate’s first-ever AI 75 list, a partnership with the Dallas Regional Chamber and Dallas AI recognizing the most innovative people in artificial intelligence in North Texas. The honor was richly deserved, as Margolin has long been a leading-edge innovator

Currently he’s CTO at Dallas-based Highwire Capital, where he builds AI tools for evaluating investment deals for middle-market businesses. He joined the strategy-based consulting and private-equity firm in 2024. Previously, he co-founded—and, until 2023, was CEO of—Dallas-based RoboKind, an EdTech company that designs and builds facially expressive robots that facilitate learning for STEM education and individuals with autism.

He’s also a Forbes Technology Council member, a 2017 Tech Titan, and a 2019 winner of EY’s regional Entrepreneur Of The Year award.

Under CEO Rob Wilson, Margolin’s current venture holds its cards close to its chest. Highwire is said to use “intellectual property as a dynamic asset,” marrying IP to private equity to bankroll buyouts in a pioneering way. What that means in the real world is hard to say, because non-disclosure agreements are in force with any tech company Highwire deals with. Some are defense or national-security contractors, Margolin explains, and some have technology that’s in development, or on a path to being patented but not yet publicly disclosed.  

Highwire entered into an agreement last year to acquire SPAR Group Inc.—a publicly traded, Michigan-based global marketing, merchandising, and distribution services business—in an all-cash deal worth more than $58 million. SPAR stockholders okayed the merger in October but, as of Wednesday, the deal hadn’t been finalized yet.

In the following interview, we asked Margolin about Highwire Capital—and for his thoughts about the promise of AI.

Will you explain what Highwire does, Richard?

Highwire Capital transforms the business landscape by merging innovative technologies with traditional operating businesses in the middle market. Our unique approach focuses on transforming established entities into leading anchor platforms for disruption and growth. Combining cutting-edge advancements with the strength of historic business models, we foster environments where innovation thrives and industries are reshaped. Highwire Capital has seven employees.

What is your specific role in providing these services?

As chief technology officer, I work to find and evaluate potential technology companies that serve non-tech enabled industries and determine if they are a potential fit for the Highwire model. If we decide a company is something we should invest in, I also help to plan technology integrations post-transaction.

I’ve read that the company “collateralizes IP to unlock its true value,” enabling the funding of leveraged buyouts in a never-before-seen manner. Can you be a little more specific?

We work to create value from existing technologies that may not have found their market, but can provide extraordinary value when integrated into the right businesses and markets.

How have your previous roles informed what you’re doing at Highwire, if they have?

My previous roles in businesses like RoboKind have helped me understand how to create and scale valuable technologies for specific industries. Leading these development and teams has helped me evaluate, build, and fund technology creation and integration into complex regulated environments.

Can you share any milestones or key performance indicators that would illustrate Highwire’s progress or success so far?

We currently maintain confidentiality around our process and investments.

What future trends in this AI/investment-evaluation realm do you see?

I foresee AI helping to accelerate due financial and operations diligence. It is enabling small, lean teams to do the type of analysis and work that has historically required teams of specialists. At Highwire, we have already accelerated our own processes with in-house AI applications.

Do you think Highwire’s methods eventually will become a model for the broader private-equity space?

We believe that Highwire’s model and process are a niche that will grow. But it requires a difficult pairing of businesses that will be difficult for many to scale.

Considering the bigger picture for the moment, what challenges and opportunities do you see for startups looking to leverage AI for business growth?

AI is a huge buzzword right now, just like the early days of Big Data and AI/ML. Startups should be very intentional about integrating AI into their products. Integrating AI just to say you have it, without creating real value, is a path to distraction. The building and integration of AI into product has gotten easier, but that does not change the need to use it to create real value versus checking a box to say you have it.

How do you see the landscape of AI innovation evolving globally?

The global landscape of AI is evolving quickly. We are in the beginning of a boom that will likely continue for quite a while. The ability of these tools to create more and more value with lower and lower cost and effort will continue. This will change the landscape of every type of technology, especially as these AI models become more multimodal and can handle more complex and varying types of data.

We are already seeing these systems making complex, real-time processing for things like robotic movement through complex environments far less difficult. The ability of these systems to take in complex sensor data and even create their own synthetic data to train themselves will make the creation of these technologies take a fraction of the time they have taken historically.

How do you think artificial general intelligence/superintelligence will impact AI down the road—and how should businesses prepare for it?

AGI is the holy grail of AI, and many think it is coming quickly. While I can’t prognosticate on when it will arrive, I believe that it will change the world and business in unforeseeable ways. I believe it will enable fully autonomous businesses, a concept I’ve played with lightly by building teams of AI agents to automate creating digital products based on market trends.

Businesses can prepare for this future by centralizing and aggregating their data in ways that these systems will be better able to access.

They should start evaluating their existing complex workflows and prepare to automate more and more complex tasks. They should integrate these systems into their creative processes, and they should evaluate their own economic models, as the value of human creativity, emotional intelligence, and strategic thinking will increase, while the value of lower-skilled tasks will decrease as they are more heavily automated.

What’s in Highwire’s pipeline, in terms of new projects or initiatives?

I cannot speak to any specifics for ongoing and future projects, due to confidentiality requirements. But we are evaluating technology in a variety of industries.

Given your schedule and responsibilities, how do you unwind or recharge to maintain some semblance of work/life balance?

I am not good at maintaining work/life balance, but I am happiest when I am creating. So, I spend time designing art and tools to build on my 3D printers, CNC [Computer Numerical Control] machines, and anything that lets me work with my hands. My favorite meditation and exercise is chopping firewood in my backyard and sitting out by a fire and relaxing.

To end on a whimsical note, Richard: If you could host a dinner party with any three people, past or present, who would they be, and why?

Isaac Asimov, Philip K. Dick, and Jensen Huang. This dinner would be the most fun and insightful thinking into the future of AI. Being able to share the current and coming state of AI technologies with Asimov and Dick would be the most exciting thinking into what the future holds.


Don’t miss what’s next. Subscribe to Dallas Innovates.

Track Dallas-Fort Worth’s business and innovation landscape with our curated news in your inbox Tuesday-Thursday.

One quick signup, and you’re done.

 

R E A D   N E X T