Cohere, one of Canada’s prominent artificial intelligence firms, has made headlines with its impressive growth and strategic partnerships, positioning itself as a key player in the rapidly evolving AI landscape. With over 400 employees and a valuation of $6.8 billion, the company is aligned with the Canadian government’s ambitions to enhance the country’s tech sovereignty and compete on a global scale.
Unlike giants such as OpenAI and Microsoft, which have consumer-facing products like ChatGPT, Cohere focuses primarily on developing large language models and AI solutions tailored for businesses and government entities. This summer, the firm secured significant agreements with the Canadian and UK governments aimed at implementing AI in public sectors. Additionally, a partnership with Bell Canada will enable Bell to serve as Cohere’s preferred Canadian AI infrastructure provider, bringing Cohere’s advanced capabilities to a broader audience.
Founded in 2019, Cohere was created by a team of local talent, notably its CEO Aiden Gomez, a former intern with AI pioneer Geoffrey Hinton at Google Brain. Gomez co-authored a pivotal paper in 2017 that significantly contributed to the development of large language models. At a recent conference, he joined leaders from Wealthsimple and Shopify in advocating for Canadian entrepreneurs to resist the temptation of selling to American firms, underscoring a commitment to nurturing a vibrant local tech ecosystem.
However, Cohere’s reliance on American technology raises some questions. In 2024, the company received $240 million in federal funding as part of Canada’s $2 billion Sovereign AI Compute Strategy, intended for building a $725 million data center in Cambridge, Ontario. This facility will be developed in partnership with CoreWeave, a U.S. AI infrastructure provider favored by major players like OpenAI and Microsoft. Critics, including Geoff Gordon, CEO of Denvr Dataworks, have expressed disappointment that federal funds will support a U.S. firm rather than Canadian alternatives, such as ThinkOn, which operates multiple data centers in Canada.
Moreover, Cohere’s associations with U.S. companies extend beyond infrastructure. The firm has a partnership with Palantir, a controversial U.S. data analytics company known for its connections with military and intelligence agencies. At the 2024 DevCon1 conference, a Cohere representative detailed how the company develops custom AI models for Palantir’s clients, although specific customer identities were not disclosed. This relationship has raised eyebrows, particularly given Palantir’s history of working with U.S. agencies on sensitive projects, including immigration enforcement.
Despite these concerns, Cohere’s leadership appears unfazed. Co-founder Nick Frosst noted that he is not overly concerned about Palantir’s past practices. He maintains that as long as clients adhere to Cohere’s terms of use—prohibiting harmful applications—he is comfortable with their engagement. However, this stance does little to assuage worries regarding the ethical implications of such partnerships.
Adding to the scrutiny, Cohere faces a lawsuit from a coalition of publishers, including the Toronto Star and Condé Nast, accusing the company of using their content without permission to train its AI systems. The plaintiffs claim that this practice led to the generation of misleading “hallucinations,” where AI-created articles were falsely attributed to their brands. In response, Cohere’s communications director has called the lawsuit “misguided and frivolous,” yet the ongoing legal battle raises questions about the integrity of Cohere as a government-approved AI provider.
As the Canadian government pursues its partnership with Cohere, the potential ramifications of such collaborations become more pressing. Without robust national AI regulations to ensure data protection and ethical AI use, the government risks undermining its own objectives for data sovereignty. Observers suggest that Canada could take a cue from the European Union’s AI Act, which emphasizes user data rights and privacy. The path forward for Canadian AI depends significantly on how these challenges are navigated, making the ongoing developments around Cohere crucial for the nation’s tech landscape.
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