Everybody knows what OpenAI is, but most people don’t know that there are many AI companies out there that are silently going to be changing the world. Here are 10 AI companies you probably never knew existed that are quietly revolutionizing their respective industries.
Neuralink is one of the most disruptive companies that you might actually know. This incredible technology lets people with paralysis, people who cannot move, use computers or phones with their mind. I know it sounds sci-fi, but it is real. The surgery uses a special robot to put the tiny wires right in place, which is 10 times more accurate than a human can do. In the future, it actually might help people see, hear, or move again if they’ve lost those abilities. It’s literally one of the first companies to make this kind of brain chip small, wireless, and ready for real people, not just experiments. In simple words, Neuralink is making a brain chip that lets people control devices with their thoughts, which could change how we live, even for people with disabilities.
Renovate Robotics is a US-based startup focused on automating roof work. Founded in 2021 and operating out of Brooklyn, New York, their robot Rufus is designed to automate the installation of asphalt shingles on residential roofs with future plans to handle additional roofing tasks. The main goals are impressive: roofers can install asphalt shingles up to three times faster than a human roofer, effectively doubling or tripling productivity for roofing crews. It also improves safety by reducing the amount of time workers spend on dangerous sloped roof surfaces, helping lower the risk of injuries and fatalities, which are high in the roofing industry.
Rufus uses machine vision and AI-powered computer vision to see the roof, segment shingle locations, and guarantee the precise placement of each shingle. The robot navigates roof planes using a winch-based gantry system, moving X and Y axes and adjusting its path based on real-time AI analysis of the roof’s layout and obstacles. The system also records installation data which can be shared with insurance and warranty providers to verify the quality and integrity of the roof. Renovate Robotics initially plans to use Rufus as a subcontractor and eventually offer robotics as a service, allowing contractors to lease Rufus robots to increase productivity and safety without large upfront investments.
Shield AI is a US-based defense technology company specializing in artificial intelligence and autonomous systems for military and government applications. Founded in 2015 and headquartered in San Diego, California, Shield AI’s mission is to protect service members and civilians by developing intelligent autonomous systems that can operate in the most challenging and contested environments.
Shield’s flagship AI product is the Hivemind, an advanced autonomy and AI software stack. Hivemind enables aircraft, drones, and other vehicles to operate fully autonomously, meaning they can navigate, make decisions, and execute missions without GPS, communications or direct human control. This technology is designed to work across a wide range of platforms from quadcopters to fighter jets. The key differentiator in their autonomy capabilities is the ability for systems to operate in a resilient, intelligent manner—to really think for themselves, adapt to varying conditions, and operate with or without human input, even when communications may be degraded or denied.
Covariant: Revolutionizing Automation with Human-Like AI for the Global Supply Chain
Covariant builds large general-purpose AI models, notably the RFM-1, that give robots human-like reasoning abilities. These models are trained on massive, diverse datasets including text, images, video, robot actions, and sensor data collected from real warehouse operations. The company’s flagship platform, called the Covariant Brain, is a universal AI system that allows robots to see, reason, and act in the physical world. It enables robots to handle a wide range of tasks such as picking, sorting, depalletizing, kitting, and order induction, often outperforming humans in speed and reliability.
Covariant may actually be the backbone of the economy because of what this company can do. This American AI and robotics technology company was founded in Emeryville, California in 2017 and is a leader in developing AI systems that enable robots to perform complex tasks in dynamic real-world environments, especially in warehouses and fulfillment centers.
Shield’s flagship AI product is the Hivemind, an advanced autonomy and AI software stack. Hivemind enables aircraft, drones, and other vehicles to operate fully autonomously, meaning they can navigate, make decisions, and execute missions without GPS, communications or direct human control. This technology is designed to work across a wide range of platforms from quadcopters to fighter jets. The key differentiator in their autonomy capabilities is the ability for systems to operate in a resilient, intelligent manner—to really think for themselves, adapt to varying conditions, and operate with or without human input, even when communications may be degraded or denied.Covariant builds large general-purpose AI models, notably the RFM-1, that give robots human-like reasoning abilities. These models are trained on massive, diverse datasets including text, images, video, robot actions, and sensor data collected from real warehouse operations. The company’s flagship platform, called the Covariant Brain, is a universal AI system that allows robots to see, reason, and act in the physical world. It enables robots to handle a wide range of tasks such as picking, sorting, depalletizing, kitting, and order induction, often outperforming humans in speed and reliability.
Since 2017, Covariant has developed the world’s largest multimodal robotics dataset by deploying AI-powered robots in real-world warehouse environments around the world. RFM-1 can predict via AI-generated videos how objects will react to robotic actions, understanding physics through learning to generate videos. The model can predict how a scene will change after an object is manipulated and can reason about future outcomes, representing a new generation of flexible and reliable robotic systems.
Anduril Industries is an American defense technology company founded in 2017 by Palmer Luckey, the creator of the Oculus Rift. Anduril specializes in developing advanced autonomous systems, artificial intelligence, and robotics for military and national security applications. Their mission is to modernize and transform United States and allied military capabilities by introducing Silicon Valley-style innovation and speed into the traditionally slow-moving defense sector.
Anduril builds autonomous unmanned aerial systems, counter-UAV systems, autonomous surveillance towers, and sensors for persistent monitoring and force protection. Their core software platform, Lattice OS, is an AI-powered command and control system that fuses data from thousands of sensors to provide real-time situational awareness, target detection, and automated decision support for operators. This incredible company is backed with over $2 billion in venture capital with a recent valuation of $14 billion as of August 2024.
Cerebras Systems is a company that could really change the chip side of things and is actually trying to take on Nvidia. This pioneering technology company specializes in building the world’s most powerful AI hardware and systems, founded in 2015 by Andrew Feldman and others in Sunnyvale, California.
Cerebras is best known for its Wafer Scale Engine (WSE), the largest computer chip ever built. Unlike traditional processors made from small separate chips, the WSE is constructed from an entire silicon wafer, resulting in a single massive AI processor. The latest version, the WSE-3, powers their CS-3 system and shatters benchmarks for AI inference and training. The CS-2 system powered by the WSE chip features 850,000 AI-optimized cores and can train models with billions of parameters much faster than traditional GPU clusters.
The Black Hornet is a series of ultra-lightweight, palm-sized military micro drones designed for covert reconnaissance and situational awareness on the battlefield. Originally developed by Prox Dynamics AS of Norway and now produced by Teledyne FLIR Defense, the latest models, particularly the Black Hornet 4, leverage AI to enhance autonomy, navigation, and mission effectiveness. The drone uses AI-powered systems for pre-programmed missions, collision avoidance, GPS-denied operation, and real-time data analysis, allowing it to operate autonomously while minimizing the need for manual control.
Caper has developed AI-enabled technology that allows customers to shop more efficiently. Their Caper Cart is an AI-powered smart cart equipped with smart sensors and computer vision cameras that automatically recognize when a customer has added a product. The built-in weight and measure certified scales even know how much items weigh, including produce. The system integrates with e-commerce platforms, offers personalized features like location-based deals, and allows customers to pay right on their cart, cutting down checkout lines while increasing basket sizes and customer loyalty.
Physical Intelligence is a robotics and AI startup company founded in 2024 and based in San Francisco, California. Composed of engineers, scientists, roboticists, and company builders, this company has quickly gained attention for its ambitious mission and significant financial backing from leaders such as Bezos, OpenAI, and Sequoia Capital.
This company focuses on developing general-purpose models specifically designed to control a wide range of robots and physically actuated devices. Their core innovation is the creation of foundation models for robotics—large, versatile AI models trained on diverse data from multiple robots and tasks. Basically, they build LLMs but for physical actions. Their first generalist policy, Pi-0, is a foundational model capable of controlling various robots to perform complex real-world tasks based on simple text instructions.
Their most recent innovation is Pi-0.5, which builds on the older Pi-0 model but is better at doing tasks in new environments it hasn’t seen before, like cleaning random houses. Pi-0.5 learns by mixing all kinds of data—pictures, actions, words, and robot demonstrations—giving it better generalization capabilities. The company aims to create a universal brain for robots that can perform any task in any environment, potentially eliminating the need for bespoke software for each robot application and making robotics more flexible, scalable, and accessible across industries.
Source: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uPZs_gAxfjM
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