AI research start-up Vicarious has recently announced that they have managed to solicit $15 million in funding through a Series A round led by Good Ventures, which is founded by Facebook co-founder Dustin Moskovitz. The additional funding increases Vicarious’ net worth at more than $100 million.
Moskovitz is confident that the technology currently being developed by Vicarious will have the potential to revolutionize the industry and improve the lives of people. Moskovitz has also confirmed that he will be joining the AI research startup’s board of directors.
Vicarious was co-founded by Dileep George and D. Scott Pheonix back in 2010. The company plans to use the $15 million exclusively for R & D of their flagship software, Recursive Cortical Network, which aims to teach code how to “learn” like the human brain.
Phoenix states that the first step in developing software that thinks like a human is to master one sensory perception. As for which sensory perception Vicarious is targeting first, it’s “sight.” The company is first goal is to get the software to interpret visual stimuli much like a human, which includes imagining things that it has never seen before.
The co-founders state that they are not yet sure on when and how their software will be utilized, but there is a potential to use the AI for determining whether tumors are malignant, for assessing product defects, or even analyzing a meal in order to determine the amount of calories in it.
Phoenix compares the technology to the cellular phone and the microprocessor, in the sense that the technology is still in very early stages and needs to be viewed from a long term perspective.
The other investors participating during the Series A round of funding include Open Field Capital, Founders Fund, and Vicarious’ angel investors Steve Brown and Zarco Investment Group. Facebook ex-CTO and Quora co-founder Adam D’Angelo is also an investor.