Cohere Hires Long-time Meta Research Head Joelle Pineau As Its Chief Ai Officer

Investors erstwhile saw Canadian AI startup Cohere arsenic a promising contender to situation OpenAI and Anthropic successful nan title to build frontier AI models, pinch its backers pouring astir $1 cardinal connected their stake connected CEO Aidan Gomez, who co-authored a seminal insubstantial connected LLMs erstwhile he was a 20-year-old Google intern.

But Cohere’s AI models person fallen down nan state-of-the-art, and its business hasn’t scaled for illustration its competitors.

Now, nan institution is bringing successful a seasoned investigation leader to revamp its AI efforts: Cohere has hired Joelle Pineau, Meta’s erstwhile VP of AI investigation who antecedently oversaw nan tech giant’s basal AI investigation (FAIR) lab. In her recently created Chief AI Officer role, Pineau will oversee AI strategy crossed Cohere’s research, merchandise and argumentation teams.

A Canadian AI intelligence and McGill Professor, Pineau helped guideline nan early improvement of Meta’s unfastened Llama AI models alongside Yann LeCun, a pioneer of neural networks. Pineau left Meta successful May aft astir 8 years pinch nan company.

For Cohere this is simply a large hire, and it is pinning its hopes connected nan seasoned helping it pinch much investigation breakthroughs, improving its investigation and merchandise pipeline, and recruiting apical talent.

The prosecute comes astatine a pivotal infinitesimal for Cohere: The institution is reportedly seeking to raise up to $500 cardinal astatine a $6.3 cardinal valuation — an awesome sum were nan startup not competing pinch nan likes of OpenAI, Google, Meta and Anthropic, whose warfare chests are worthy dozens of billions each.

But while its rivals are trying to create AI systems that tin lucifer (or exceed) quality capacity connected a wide assortment of tasks, Cohere has a narrower focus. The startup chiefly builds AI applications that tin lick applicable problems for enterprises and authorities agencies, emphasizing privateness and security.

In an question and reply pinch TechCrunch, Pineau said Cohere’s attraction connected real-world, endeavor applications is thing she’s excited about. “A batch of players retired location are rather singularly focused connected AGI, superintelligence, and truthful on,” said Pineau, alluding to companies for illustration her erstwhile employer, Meta, which precocious invested billions successful its caller Meta Superintelligence Labs (MSL) unit. “They haven’t needfully figured retired what this AI is going to beryllium utilized for.”

She pointed to OpenAI’s launch of GPT-5 past week, which galore felt was underwhelming, arsenic grounds nan timeline to achieving AGI whitethorn beryllium “a small spot longer than we thought.” In nan meantime, Pineau says there’s a batch of room for much applicable AI models to present leaps successful productivity successful different industries.

A Canada native, Pineau said she’s had her oculus connected Cohere since they were founded successful 2019, and that she’s excited to lend to a institution whose founders are based successful her location country.

Joelle Pineau. Image Credits: Paul Morigi/Getty ImagesImage Credits:Paul Morigi/Haddad Media / Getty Images

Beyond nan patriotism, Pineau feels nan opportunity pinch Cohere is simply a bully chance to task beyond research. At FAIR, Pineau oversaw investigation teams moving connected projects that could return anyplace from 18 months to 10 years to deliver. Now, she’ll beryllium moving wrong a overmuch tighter timeline, arsenic good arsenic getting progressive pinch customers and products. And moreover though Cohere has less resources than Meta, Pineau said she’ll beryllium much agile successful her caller role.

Cohere’s latest merchandise is an AI supplier platform dubbed North that enterprises and authorities agencies tin deploy privately connected their ain infrastructure, an charismatic conception for galore of its customers, which are banks and national organizations that grip highly delicate data. That puts Cohere successful title pinch open-source providers for illustration DeepSeek and Meta, whose models tin besides beryllium tally locally, but astatine a little cost. Cohere is betting that by offering much support astir its backstage deployments, it tin hit retired unfastened models.

Pineau said she’s peculiarly willing successful gearing much of Cohere’s investigation astir North, figuring retired ways to create AI agents successful backstage and unafraid settings, and creating benchmarks to measure these systems. Pineau besides said she’s willing successful exploring really networks of AI agents interact pinch each different successful nan existent world.

One contiguous situation for Pineau will beryllium replacing Cohere’s VP of AI Research, Sara Hooker, who announced her departure this week aft respective years of helping build nan company’s investigation program. Hiring an AI interrogator of Hooker’s caliber whitethorn beryllium difficult successful nan existent marketplace fixed nan skyrocketing request for AI talent.

But Pineau sees this arsenic an opportunity to “bring successful a batch of talent,” noting that erstwhile she near Meta, respective of her erstwhile colleagues suggested they’d travel her to a caller AI lab. However, she emphasized that Cohere has a coagulated guidelines of AI researchers, and that it’s important to not conscionable bring successful anyone.

“Hiring a bunch of superstars doesn’t needfully make a superstar team,” said Pineau. “It’s really astir really nan group activity together.”

Of course, Meta’s AI units coming look very different compared pinch erstwhile Pineau was location conscionable a fewer months ago. Over nan summer, Mark Zuckerberg went connected a recruiting spree, reportedly offering immoderate of nan industry’s champion AI researchers compensation packages northbound of $100 cardinal to subordinate MSL. That prompted OpenAI to besides raise compensation for its prima employees, frankincense making it rather difficult for smaller players to onshore apical AI researchers.

As Meta, OpenAI and Anthropic propulsion billions of dollars astatine their AI efforts, Cohere is trying to do much pinch less. For Pineau, that will mean making calculated investigation bets — nan benignant that tin quickly move into compelling products and support nan institution successful nan race.