Palo Alto-based Archetype AI has emerged from stealth with an intriguing platform focused on physical AI. The company's first-of-its-kind foundation model, Newton, fuses real-time sensor data with natural language, allowing users to ask open-ended questions about their surroundings and take informed actions based on the insights provided.
The startup has raised $13 million in seed funding led by Venrock, with participation from Amazon Industrial Innovation Fund, Hitachi Ventures, and several other investors. The company's founding team brings decades of experience from prominent organizations like Google, Disney, Sony, Samsung, NASA, Stanford, and MIT. This diverse expertise in artificial intelligence, machine learning, hardware, and software design positions Archetype AI to build purposeful products that seamlessly integrate with our lives.
Archetype AI says its mission is to harness the power of AI to solve real-world problems by decoding the hidden patterns in the physical world that are too complex or fast-moving for humans to perceive. "The biggest problems in the world are physical, not digital," said Ivan Poupyrev, CEO and co-founder of Archetype AI. "Our goal is to encode the entire physical world so we can derive meaning from the signals all around us and create new solutions to problems that we previously couldn't understand."
Newton differentiates itself from other generative AI models by focusing on the physical world rather than online text and images. The model integrates data from a wide range of sensors, including radars, cameras, accelerometers, and thermometers, to provide a comprehensive understanding of the environment in real-time. This approach enables Archetype AI to target the "trillion sensor economy" and deliver solutions across various industries, including automotive, consumer electronics, construction, logistics, and retail.
Early customers and partners are already using Newton to tackle challenges such as improving construction safety, enhancing vehicle situational awareness, optimizing home safety and energy efficiency, and predicting maintenance for industrial equipment. Infineon, a leading provider of IoT and sensor solutions, sees significant potential in partnering with Archetype AI. "The combination of Archetype AI's foundation model and our portfolio of IoT and sensor solutions can bring the power of physical AI to millions," said Kim Lee, Senior Director of System Applications Engineering at Infineon.