By combining the power of Swarm AI technology with LLMs, this project aims to enable distributed teams to form a Collective Superintelligence that can solve difficult problems while keeping humans in the loop.
ARLINGTON, Va., Jan. 11, 2024 /PRNewswire-PRWeb/ -- Today, Unanimous AI announced it has been awarded a Phase I contract from AFWERX focused on enabling large, networked groups of Air Force personnel to hold real-time conversations while an AI system amplifies their collective intelligence in real-time.
The project code-named "MindMeld," is based on an innovation from Unanimous AI called Conversational Swarm Intelligence (CSI). This unique technology enables human groups of potentially any size to hold real-time conversations that efficiently combine the participants' collective knowledge, wisdom, and insights to amplify group intelligence. CSI technology is based on the biological principle of Swarm Intelligence, which is the reason why birds flock, fish school, and bees swarm – they can make significantly better decisions together than the individuals could make on their own.
"While most AI companies are pushing to replace people with algorithms, Unanimous AI has been working for nearly a decade on connecting groups of people together to enable significantly smarter decisions, insights, assessments and evaluations," said David Baltaxe, President of Unanimous AI. "Our CSI technology is a major breakthrough because it unlocks the power of Swarm Intelligence through natural human conversation."
Conversational deliberation is a critical method by which human teams make strategic plans, generate critical assessments, and reach optimal decisions. Unfortunately, conversations are only effective in groups of four to seven members and degrade significantly as size grows. In fact, deliberative conversations become impossible in groups greater than 10 to 12 as the interactive dynamics devolve into a series of monologs.
Unanimous AI has solved this problem by combining the power of its Swarm AI® technology with the flexibility of Large Language Models (LLMs). Unanimous' CSI technology works by dividing large human groups into a series of overlapping subgroups, each subgroup sized for thoughtful deliberation. Each subgroup is augmented with an artificial agent that shares real-time insights from other groups, enabling conversational insights to quickly propagate across the full population. This allows for thoughtful discussion among groups of potentially any size – 50 people, 500 people, even 5,000 people – all while the Swarm AI technology amplifies the group's collective intelligence.
"CSI technology is a breakthrough in collaboration, communication, and collective intelligence," says Dr Louis Rosenberg, CEO and Chief Scientist of Unanimous AI. "And we've only scratched the surface of how smart human groups can become when collaborating as AI-powered conversational swarms. As we expand to larger and larger groups, we hope to enable a new form of "collective superintelligence" grounded entirely in real-time human knowledge and insights."
Unanimous AI is a leading developer of AI technologies that optimize decision-making across networked teams, amplifying accuracy while keeping humans in the loop. Their Swarm AI® technology is based on the natural principle of Swarm Intelligence and has been used by high profile customers around the world from Fortune 500 corporations to the United Nations.
Swarm Intelligence, the science behind the Swarm® platform, is the reason why birds flock, bees swarm, and fish school – they are smarter together than alone. By forming real-time dynamic systems, these organisms collectively make decisions that far exceed the natural abilities of any individual member. Swarm AI technology brings these benefits to networked human groups, significantly amplifying their combined intelligence.
"Within any organization, conversational deliberation is critical for distributed teams to solve complex problems," said Gregg Willcox, CTO of Unanimous AI. "This contract will enable us to use the power of Swarm AI technology combined with LLMs to help Air Force decision-makers tasked with quickly extracting maximized insights from their distributed personnel."
The Air Force Research Laboratory and AFWERX have partnered to streamline the Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) and Small Business Technology Transfer (STTR) process by accelerating the small business experience through faster proposal to award timelines, changing the pool of potential applicants by expanding opportunities to small business and eliminating bureaucratic overhead by continually implementing process improvement changes in contract execution. The DAF began offering the Open Topic SBIR/STTR program in 2018 which expanded the range of innovations the DAF funded and now on December 08, 2023, Unanimous AI will start its journey to create and provide innovative capabilities that will strengthen the national defense of the United States of America.
The views expressed are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the official policy or position of the Department of the Air Force, the Department of Defense, or the U.S. government.
About Unanimous AI
Unanimous AI is the creator of Swarm AI® technology and the Swarm® software platform for amplifying the intelligence of networked teams, as well as their new Thinkscape™ and MindMix™ innovations for generating insights from very large groups. For more information about Unanimous AI's technology, view the company CEO's TEDx talk or visit unanimous.ai.
About Air Force Research Laboratory (AFRL)
The Air Force Research Laboratory is the primary scientific research and development center for the Department of the Air Force. AFRL plays an integral role in leading the discovery, development, and integration of affordable warfighting technologies for our air, space, and cyberspace force. With a workforce of more than 12,500 across nine technology areas and 40 other operations across the globe, AFRL provides a diverse portfolio of science and technology ranging from fundamental to advanced research and technology development. For more information, visit: www.afresearchlab.com.
About AFWERX
As the innovation arm of the DAF and a directorate within the Air Force Research Laboratory, AFWERX brings cutting-edge American ingenuity from small businesses and start-ups to address the most pressing challenges of the DAF. AFWERX employs approximately 325 military, civilian and contractor personnel at six hubs and sites executing an annual $1.4 billion budget. Since 2019, AFWERX has executed 4,697 contracts worth more than $2.6 billion to strengthen the U.S. defense industrial base and drive faster technology transition to operational capability. For more information, visit: www.afwerx.com.
Media Contact
Josh Sitzer, Unanimous AI, 1 816-668-7721, [email protected], https://unanimous.ai/
SOURCE Unanimous AI
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