Intel has founded an artificial intelligence software company, Articul8 AI, with the support of investors and digital asset manager DigitalBridge Group. The company will be unlisted and will utilise Intel’s supercomputers to develop a generative artificial intelligence system. In this way, the company aims to address concerns about data sharing and the high cost of generating artificial intelligence.

• Intel is founding an independent AI company together with the DigitalBridge Group.
• Intel uses supercomputers for generative AI and works with BCG on data security.
• The new CEO, Arun Subramaniyan, is focussing on taking AI from concept to production. Intel plans to separate its business units and bring them to market.

On Wednesday, Intel announced that it will create a new, independent company focused on artificial intelligence (AI) software initiatives, backed by investors and digital asset management firm DigitalBridge Group.

Intel executives declined to comment on the value of the deal and whether the company will retain a majority stake in the new company. They said only that the company will continue to have an independent board of directors and that the chipmaker will be a shareholder.

The new company, called Articul8 AI, will not be publicly traded and is the result of Intel’s original collaboration with the Boston Consulting Group (BCG) in the field of artificial intelligence for business.

Intel used one of its own supercomputers to develop a generative artificial intelligence system that combines proprietary and open source technologies to read both text and images. To help BCG with privacy and security issues, Intel adapted this system to run in BCG’s own data centres.

Arun Subramaniyan, who will lead Articul8, was previously vice president and general manager of Intel’s data centre and artificial intelligence division. He claimed that many other potential customers have similar concerns about handing over their data to large companies working on artificial intelligence. Potential customers also feared unmanageably high prices if thousands of their employees were to use the systems.

Subramaniyan said in a recent interview that they are really trying to address the biggest gap in the generative artificial intelligence space, which is that while it’s easy to do proof of concept, there’s a real lack of getting things into production and doing it in a safe and cost-effective way.

Intel’s latest attempt to raise external funding for its business units is the creation of Articul8. The chipmaker intends to commercialise its programmable chip business through an IPO and spin off its automotive chip business, Mobileye Global.

Articul8’s other investors include the listed company DigitalBridge, a major investor in the data centre sector, GS Futures, Fin Capital, Communitas Capital, Mindset Ventures, GiantLeap Capital and the Zain Group.