Artificial Intelligence is redefining the boundaries of innovation – but the most powerful technology is not about replacing human potential, it is, according to Cohere CEO Aidan Gomez, about enhancing it.
Cohere's approach to AI is one built around privacy, sovereignty and the belief that technology should empower people. Its philosophy is shaped by curiosity, creativity and a commitment to building technology responsibly. And as the Official Generative AI Partner of Aston Martin Aramco, Cohere shares a natural alignment with Formula One: a relentless pursuit of performance, engineering excellence and the discovery of new possibilities. This is how they do it, in the words of CEO and Co-founder, Aidan Gomez.
Innovation through constraint
"From a technology perspective, I came from pretty humble beginnings: I grew up in the woods in rural Ontario, Canada. At home, we didn't have the internet or any of the latest gear so that absence really helped to inspire my appreciation for technology.
"At Cohere, we've adopted a similar mindset: we've never been about, 'who can spend the most money?' That's not a competition we want to pursue. We've used that resource constraint to develop more innovative and creative solutions for our business. Our highly efficient models can run on company-owned hardware by using as few as two GPUs."
It's understandable that a lot of people are very frightened about AI – and we want to address that. We want AI that empowers people rather than disempowers them.
Building AI in a different way
"We operate in a different way to the other big tech firms. In fact, I think a lot of the other AI labs are focused on 'building superintelligence' and I find that line of thinking really dangerous. We don't believe in that.
"Still, it's understandable that a lot of people are very frightened about AI – and we want to address that. At Cohere, our perspective is a very pragmatic one: call us boring, but we develop AI in a safe, controllable and private way. We want AI that empowers people rather than disempowers them.
"So, I'm incredibly proud that our company supports the resilience of democracy – we're giving people more than one option, which is crucial for developing a more secure future. We've worked hard to create proper sovereignty within the category.
"For too long, there's been too much concentration of technology – we all buy our tech from the same few sources. People need choices for this sophisticated and empowering tech, otherwise you create an over-dependence on a single source."
Protecting data while unlocking potential
"Cohere has really succeeded at developing solutions for industries that are highly sensitive about their data and their data-critical systems – such as governments or telecommunications firms.
"If your work is a national security concern, Cohere's deployment method is the most secure. Our models run locally, protect data by design, and deliver advanced reasoning through efficient, controllable systems built for the real world. No data leaves the customer's environment. And that ethos sits really naturally within Formula One.
"F1 is a very competitive and very technical sport, and that's why we're very proud to be supplying our LLM, North, to the Aston Martin Aramco Formula One Team.
"Motorsport is fundamentally about engineering and innovation, and those are two disciplines that fit AI very well."
Human and machine collaboration
"Security is all about maintaining your advantage and making sure your secrets remain protected; and innovation is about giving engineers access to frontier AI and helping them discover ideas and concepts that they'd never ordinarily explore.
"In physics, there are so many unintuitive 'optimal solutions'. One simple example is the 'packing problem': how do you fit a certain number of items within a specific footprint? The human mind wants to look for a beautifully aligned grid: but the optimal strategy means twisting and adjusting those objects, fitting them in in strange and precise ways. As a human, it's really hard to see those solutions; but for a machine, it's actually much easier.
"But what's happening now is that humans are looking at what AI and machine learning can achieve, and they're learning and rewiring their own brains as a natural consequence."
Checkmate
"I'm friends with Magnus Carlsen, the Norwegian chess grandmaster, and he's been using AlphaZero, an AI chess algorithm – both playing against it and learning from it. On one occasion, it suggested something really bizarre to him: an unorthodox rook/pawn move super early in the game. Every other chess algorithm that had existed before said that this was a poor strategy, but the newer AI suggested it was an optimal move.
"And the new algorithm was right! So, Magnus adopted this strategy into his own game and it presented him with a sustained competitive advantage. That's a great example of how AI can not only show us things that we can't ordinarily see, but also how we can learn, adapt and develop those new ideas too.
"And that harmony of human with machine is central to our philosophy."
Amplifying human potential
"Artificial Intelligence is the most potent technology that we've created in a very long time. Until recently, human beings were the only intelligent species on the planet – and now we've created something that can think like us, and which is only going to become more capable.
"So, we need to have the right checks and balances to secure it, which is what we're doing at Cohere. We're building a technology that actually amplifies our ability to do good; one that protects people and which makes them safer, rather than one that fundamentally disempowers them."
AI is a tool. It doesn't replace human creativity and it doesn't come up with ideas – ideas are a human thing. But what it can do is help you execute faster, iterate more easily and ideate more freely. It's a creative enhancement.
The future of AI is human
"Of course, there's a global race to develop the best AI technology and to exploit the advantages it will present to every part of our lives, whether that's in the fields of medicine, materials, mathematics or industry. But it's essential that the race doesn't produce a winner that only gives people one option. Cohere has to be in that competition, and we truly stand for more than one democracy showing up to compete.
"AI is a tool. It doesn't replace human creativity and it doesn't come up with ideas – ideas are a human thing. But what it can do is help you execute faster, iterate more easily and ideate more freely. It's a creative enhancement.
"So, while we're all worrying about how this tech is going to somehow 'replace' us, it's always worth remembering that, even though a computer can play flawless chess or a simulator can drive the perfect racing line, the inescapable human element is what we care for. Hundreds of thousands of people show up to watch a ballgame or a Grand Prix because they want to see the efforts of a human. Not a machine.
"And that will always be true for artists, for athletes. For everyone."
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