Gates Foundation Pumps Over $2 Mn in PalmPilot Inventor Jeff Hawkins’ New AI Project

The Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation has pumped $2.7 million into PalmPilot’s co-creator Jeff Hawkins’ company, Numenta, to further its work on AI inspired by the human brain. Hawkins has long believed that understanding the brain, particularly the neocortex, is key to developing true AGI. 

The neocortex, responsible for complex thought and action, processes sensory inputs and movements to learn about the world.

Even though PalmPilot, was once a popular and one of the earliest successful handheld devices, Hawkins gained widespread recognition for its invention in 1996. It was discontinued in 2010 and eventually replaced with smartphones.

Fast forward to years later, the genius is now venturing into AI. His approach, encapsulated in his 2021 book "Thousand Brains Theory," stated that AI should mimic the brain's sensorimotor learning. 

Why is this development important?

Unlike traditional neural networks, which have deviated from biological models, Hawkins advocates for AI systems that learn through interaction with their environment, much like the brain. 

This theory is set to be tested through Numenta's new software, funded by the Gates Foundation. In a previous interview, Hawkins stated that “The Gates Foundation approached us because they were also interested in the theory, and they felt that current AI systems have limitations,” 

Current AI models, particularly LLMs like GPT-4 or Claude 3 rely on sheer data volume and statistical correlations rather than true understanding. While these models excel at tasks like language processing, they require massive computational resources and may hit performance limits. Hawkins' brain-based AI aims to overcome these limitations by developing more efficient and intelligent systems.

“They thought that sensorimotor-type AI systems would be very, very helpful for global health issues,” he added.  His goal is to create AI that truly understands and interacts with the world, paving the way for a new era of intelligent machines.

Founded in 2005, Numenta was established to bolster Hawkins' research on the human brain. The company's objective is to reverse engineer the neocortex and develop machines based on biological principles.

Numenta's forthcoming open-source release of its AI models will enable further development and testing by the broader research community. Hawkins compares this phase of AI development to the early days of computing, where foundational work laid the groundwork for future technological breakthroughs.

Currently, all the AI players in the market, including the likes of Microsoft, OpenAI, Google, Anthropic, xAI, among others, are on a mission to achieve AGI. So it would be interesting to see how Hawkins’ work contributes to this goal.