Sentient Technologies

Sentient Technologies, an ambitious venture in the field of artificial intelligence, was founded in 2007 by Adam Cheyer, Antoine Blondeau, and Babak Hodjat. The company emerged with the goal of tackling complex problems by developing and deploying proprietary AI technologies. Its founders brought a wealth of experience to the endeavor; Blondeau had previously served as CEO of Dejima, a company acquired by Sybase, while Hodjat was a founder of Dejima and a specialist in machine learning. Cheyer was a co-founder of Siri, which was later acquired by Apple, highlighting his deep expertise in AI-powered virtual assistants. This collective background in AI and successful startup exits provided a strong foundation for Sentient's mission.

The firm operated by building what it termed distributed artificial intelligence, combining evolutionary computation and deep learning to find solutions in vast datasets. This technology formed the core of its business, which catered to various sectors, including e-commerce and finance. For its e-commerce clients, such as Shoes.com, Sentient offered an AI-powered service that provided intelligent product recommendations and visual search capabilities to enhance the online shopping experience and increase conversion rates. In the financial trading domain, Sentient developed an AI system that would observe market data and make trading decisions autonomously, aiming to generate returns by identifying patterns humans might miss. The business model revolved around providing these AI-driven services and solutions to its corporate clients.

Sentient Technologies attracted significant investor attention, raising approximately $143 million in funding over its lifetime from backers including Tata Communications and various private investors. However, after a period of operation and significant investment in its technology, Sentient Technologies ultimately ceased operations. In 2019, portions of the company's assets and its skilled team were acquired by Cognizant, a professional services company, while its learning-based trading business was sold to a specialized investment firm.

Keywords: artificial intelligence, distributed AI, evolutionary computation, deep learning, e-commerce optimization, algorithmic trading, visual search, AI assistants, machine learning, technology acquisition