About Us
ABOUT US
Pioneering a new era of brain-based AI
From our inception, Numenta has had two goals. First, to understand the human brain, and how it creates intelligence. Second, to apply these principles to enable machine intelligence.
Numenta has developed a broad framework for understanding what the neocortex does and how it does it, called the Thousand Brains Theory of Intelligence. Leveraging our achievements on the former goal, we are creating cutting-edge AI technology that addresses real-world challenges of today’s AI systems.
Our collaborative open-source project, the Thousand Brains Project, is dedicated to creating a new type of artificial intelligence that pushes the current boundaries of AI. This project has recently become its own, separate nonprofit entity. We invite developers, researchers and enthusiasts to contribute and build upon our framework.
OUR VISION
We believe that neocortical principles will drive the creation of machine intelligence.
Today’s AI systems have accomplished many impressive tasks but are often met with complex challenges. They require enormous amounts of data and computational power, are restricted to narrow, specific goals, and can struggle with tasks that humans find instinctive. In stark contrast, intelligent machines built on neocortical principles are designed to continuously learn, adapt and engage with the world without supervision, much like the human brain. Their ability to tackle problems in entirely new ways, combined with energy efficiency far beyond existing AI systems, herald a new era of powerful, flexible, and sustainable machine intelligence.
We believe in an AI future that is not only more powerful but more attuned to the complexity and dynamism of the real world. Intelligent machines will have an enormous beneficial impact across the full spectrum of AI in the coming decades, and the human brain provides the blueprint for building them.
OUR HISTORY
In 2005, three years after founding the Redwood Neuroscience Institute, Jeff Hawkins co-founded Numenta, along with Donna Dubinsky and Dileep George. Building upon two decades of neuroscience research and a growing collection of peer-reviewed papers, Numenta has turned its focus to commercializing its brain-based AI technology.
In 2024, we announced our open-source initiative, the Thousand Brains Project, which focuses on implementing a general AI framework that follows the principles of the Thousand Brains Theory,
