ABOUT AE
AI is the most consequential technology of our time.
We started building with it in 2016. The mission was the same then as now: increase agency through technology.
WHAT WE'VE BUILT
A decade of work, one thesis.
Founded as a bootstrapped product studio with an ML-first thesis. Shipped data science systems, predictive models, and the apps and infrastructure they ran on, for companies that didn't have the skills to build them in-house.
Went deeper into NLP and predictive AI. Began building with LLMs the year GPT-3 shipped. Started internal research on brain-computer interfaces, on the bet that BCI was the long-term lever for human agency.
Timelines compressed. We shifted internal research from BCI to AI alignment and pushed the studio itself to become AI-native. The research arm now collaborates with DARPA and Anthropic. The applied side ships AI into production at companies like Azul, Alpha School, Global Shop Solutions, and Blackrock Neurotech.
HOW WE WORK NOW
One company, two halves of the same bet.
Most AI consultancies ship products. A few research labs do alignment work. We do both, because we think they're inseparable in this moment.
You can't do really good applied AI without taking alignment seriously. You do better alignment research when you stay close to how the technology actually gets used.
People move between both sides. The work in each half makes the work in the other half better.
2022
Four years ago, our timelines compressed.
Until then, our internal research focused on brain-computer interfaces. We saw BCI as the long-term lever for human agency: a way to give people more direct access to their own intentions and capabilities.
Then it became clear AI was moving faster than almost anyone had planned for, and the gap between capability and alignment was a more urgent place to put research effort. We shifted internal research from BCI to AI alignment, and pushed the studio itself to become AI-native. Same team, same mission, sharper bet.
WHY
Increase agency for all conscious beings.
That's our vision. It used to be "increase human agency." As our understanding of agency has stretched, so has the scope.
Agency matters for any system capable of forming goals and being prevented from acting on them. AI is one of those systems, and we treat it that way.
The work is in service of that vision. Helping leaders adopt new technology well is one expression of it. Doing alignment research is another. The two reinforce each other.
LET'S TALK
Bring us the hard problem.
We'll bring the team that ships.