Like so many companies operating in the AI space, Literal Labs wants to revolutionize artificial intelligence, but it may have more possibilities than most.
The startup is working on a piece of technology known as the Tsetlin machine that it claims offers an artificial intelligence approach that is up to 10,000 times more energy efficient and up to 1,000 times faster than traditional GPU training.
The Tsetlin machine, named after Soviet mathematician Michael Lvovitch Tsetlin, is a pattern learning automaton based on propositional logic. This means that it can perform tasks such as classification, regression, and convolution, and produce interpretable and explainable results. Unlike neural networks, a Tsetlin machine has lower computational complexity, uses fewer resources, and does not suffer from local optima or vanishing gradients.
Arm Recruitments
Literal Labs, formerly known as Mignon Technologies Ltd., was founded by Professor Alex Yakovlev and Rishad Shafik, both from the University of Newcastle. The company's technology focuses on developing and training Tsetlin machine models specific to customer data sets, resulting in an optimized machine model that can be deployed on target hardware. The result is a Tsetlin machine model that can run on industry-standard hardware or can be accelerated using Literal Labs processors.
EE News Europe reports that the company recently recruited two industry veterans, Noel Hurley, former vice president of IP processor licensor Arm, and Jem Davies, who led the graphics and artificial intelligence business groups at Arm. Hurley has joined Literal Labs as CEO, while Davies has taken on the role of non-executive director.
While Literal Labs' business model has not yet been revealed, it could potentially license software and hardware IP, similar to Arm, or sell its own chiplets or packaged integrated circuits as a fabless chip company. In any case, the success of the startup will depend on demonstrating the supposed efficiency of the Tsetlin machines in carrying out various tasks.
With the hiring of Hurley and Davies, Literal Labs appears to be moving closer to commercial talks, indicating a potentially bright future for the Tseltin machine.
