Rivian elects Cohere’s CEO to its board in newest sign the EV maker is bullish on AI | TechCrunch

Aidan Gomez, the co-founder and CEO of generative AI startup Cohere, has joined the board of EV maker Rivian, according to a regulatory filing. The appointment is the newest signal that Rivian sees guarantees in making use of AI to its personal enterprise whereas positioning itself as a software program chief — and even supplier — throughout the automotive trade.

Rivian elevated the scale of the board and elected Gomez, whose time period will expire in 2026, in keeping with the submitting.

Gomez has had a protracted profession as an information scientist and AI knowledgeable. He launched Cohere in 2019 with co-founders Nick Frosst and Ivan Zhang with a deal with coaching AI basis fashions for enterprises. The generative AI startup sells its companies to corporations resembling Oracle and Notion.

Previous to beginning Cohere, Gomez was a researcher at Google Mind, the deep studying division at Google led by Nobel Prize winner Geoffrey Hinton. Gomez can be identified for “Consideration Is All You Want,” a 2017 technical paper he co-authored that laid the muse for lots of the most succesful generative AI fashions right this moment.

Gomez’s talent set could possibly be notably helpful for Rivian because the EV maker navigates a brand new $5.8 billion three way partnership with Volkswagen Group to develop software program. Below the three way partnership, Rivian will share its electrical structure experience with Volkswagen Group — together with its many manufacturers — and is anticipated to license current mental property rights to the three way partnership.

It’s doable the three way partnership will promote its tech to different corporations sooner or later.

Rivian has additionally been engaged on an AI assistant for its EVs since 2023, Rivian’s chief software program officer, Wassym Bensaid, advised TechCrunch throughout an interview in March. The AI work, which is particularly on the orchestration layer or framework for an AI assistant, sits exterior the three way partnership with VW, Bensaid talked about on the time.

Gomez’s experience in AI and as an information scientist is clearly engaging to Rivian founder and CEO RJ Scaringe, who
famous in a press release that his “considering and experience will assist Rivian as we combine new, cutting-edge applied sciences into our merchandise, companies, and manufacturing.”