"We lived and breathed data science," DataRobot CEO Jeremy Achin says of himself and his cofounder ... [ ] Tom de Godoy. "And we asked ourselves, 'How would we automate our jobs?'" DataRobot wants to make machine learning so simple that a business analyst with basic training can run predictive models without breaking a sweat. The Boston-based startup just raised a $206 million Series E funding round led by Sapphire Ventures to expand the business, which sells software that helps companies across industries develop and deploy in-house AI models. The billion-dollar valuation makes it the highest-ranking of the "picks-and-shovels" startups featured on Forbes' inaugural AI 50 list (meaning the companies that provide tools to help their customers develop their own AI).

"We lived and breathed data science," DataRobot CEO Jeremy Achin says of himself and his cofounder Tom de Godoy. "And we asked ourselves, 'How would we automate our jobs?'" DataRobot wants to make machine learning so simple that a business analyst with basic training can run predictive models without breaking a sweat. The Boston-based startup just raised a $206 million Series E funding round led by Sapphire Ventures to expand the business, which sells software that helps companies across industries develop and deploy in-house AI models. The billion-dollar valuation makes it the highest-ranking of the "picks-and-shovels" startups featured on Forbes' inaugural AI 50 list (meaning the companies that provide tools to help their customers develop their own AI).

What do we call the collection of technologies that make up what we used to call "artificial intelligence?" This conundrum reminds me of a Raymond Carver short story (and book) called What We Talk About When We Talk About Love. I was prompted to discuss this issue by a conversation with Jeremy Achin, the young CEO of DataRobot. We were preparing for a collaborative presentation at the Open Data Science Conference in Boston a few weeks ago, and I told him I could present on "The Cognitive Company." Achin, who doesn't mince words, wrinkled up his nose and said he really didn't like the use of the word "cognitive".