The Allen Institute for AI (AI2) started its incubator up two years ago, helping launch companies like Xnor.ai, Blue Canoe, and WellSaidLabs. Their success has attracted funding from not just local Seattle VC outfit Madrona, but Sequoia, Kleiner Perkins, and Two Sigma as well, resulting in a new $10M fund that should help keep the lights on. The AI2 Incubator, led by Jacob Colker since its inception in 2017, has focused on launching a handful of companies every year that in some way leverage a serious AI advantage. Blue Canoe, for instance, does natural language processing with a focus on accent modification; Xnor.ai is working on ultra-low-power implementations of machine learning algorithms, and was just acquired yesterday by Apple for a reported $200M. Apple buys edge-based AI startup Xnor.ai for a reported $200M "We think the next generation of so called AI-first companies are going to have to graduate into building long term, successful businesses that start with an AI edge," said the program's new managing director, Bryan Hale.

The Allen Institute for Artificial Intelligence (AI2), a research center and startup incubator created by Microsoft cofounder Paul Allen, announced a new residency program that aims to give top engineers the intensive training needed to become technical cofounders of AI startups. Here's how it works: The organization will recruit a handful of top engineers for the program and provide them with a modest salary while preparing them to become the technical cofounder of a startup that uses artificial intelligence as a key part of its product. At the end of that process, which is expected to last 12 to 18 months, they'll be paired with an entrepreneur and given cofounder equity in a new venture that they begin. The program is powered by the Institute's AI researchers, who will be helping the residents on their journey to become cofounders. Think of it a bit like graduate school, except that instead of graduating with a diploma, participants will graduate with equity.

Paul Allen's artificial intelligence experts are aiming to generate a new wave of AI startups in Seattle. The Microsoft co-founder's Allen Institute for Artificial Intelligence (AI2) announced Tuesday it is expanding its incubator for AI companies to let in outside startups for the first time, following a pair of successful spinouts this year. Companies accepted into the program will get up to $250,000 in seed money, six months of free office space, help with sales and marketing and access to 70 AI researchers and PhD holders on staff. "The real superpower, the real amazing thing we bring to the table is this incredible group of people," said Jacob Colker, entrepreneur in residence at AI2. "Some of the leading AI minds available on the planet are in this facility and the companies will be collaborating with those folks to push the bar in technology." AI2 is actively recruiting AI startups for the incubator, Colker said, with a goal of getting a class in place by the end of the year or sooner.

You can't swing a cat these days without hitting some incubator or accelerator, or a startup touting its artificial intelligence chops -- but for some reason, there are few if any incubators focused just on the AI sector. Seattle's Allen Institute for AI is doing just that, with the promise of connecting small classes of startups with the organization's formidable brains (and 250 grand). AI2, as the Paul Allen-backed nonprofit is more commonly called, already spun off two companies: XNOR.ai, which has made major advances in enabling AI tasks to run on edge devices, is operating independently and licensing its tech to eager customers. "We're two for two, and not in a small way," said Jacob Colker, who has led several Seattle and Bay Area startups and incubators, and is currently the Entrepreneur-in-Residence charged with putting AI2's program on the map. Until now the incubation program has kept a low profile.

Paul Allen's artificial-intelligence research outfit is opening its doors to a handful of startups, dangling $250,000 in funding and the promise of opportunities to draw on the human brain power of its in-house Ph.D.s. The Allen Institute for Artificial Intelligence has already lent a hand to a couple of Seattle startups that have gone on to success. Kitt.ai was recently acquired by Chinese search giant Baidu, and Xnor.ai has raised a round of venture capital funding. As of Tuesday, AI2, as the research unit calls itself, is seeking applications for startups to follow in those companies' footsteps. "We've decided to formalize and double down" on that work, said Oren Etzioni, the institute's chief executive.