A Toronto company's AI will help a French defense contractor serve the Royal Canadian Navy's fleet.
Cohere is partnering with the Canadian subsidiary of French defense company Thales to provide its artificial intelligence (AI) technology to serve clients in the defense and security sectors.
Thales Canada announced today that it will use the services of a Toronto-based enterprise artificial intelligence company to help fulfill its operations and maintenance contracts with the Department of National Defense, and combine Cohere's technology and expertise with its own artificial intelligence accelerator division, CortAIx.
“This partnership with Thales Canada marks a strategic leap in the responsible use of AI for national defense.”
“This partnership with Thales Canada marks a strategic leap in the responsible use of artificial intelligence for national defense,” Cohere co-founder Ivan Zhang said in a statement. “Together, we provide secure and independent artificial intelligence solutions to the Canadian Navy that analyze the complex naval environment in real time.”
Founded in 2019 by former Google researchers, Cohere creates large language models (LLMs) that are used in chatbots and other artificial intelligence applications for companies and government agencies. In the face of stiff competition from larger US developers LLM Cohere strived to distinguish himself as an artificial intelligence company specializing in enterprise and cybersecurity.
This partnership marks one of the first deployments of Cohere's artificial intelligence tools within the Canadian Armed Forces. Cohere currently works with enterprise clients in all sectors where data security is a top priority, including healthcare and financial services. It also partnered with US defense software company Second Front Systems, which has a contract with the US Department of Defense.
The announcement came after increase in promised defense industry funding from the Canadian government, as well as criticism of federal policies decisions to subsidize foreign companies with operations in Canada.
In an email to BetaKit, Thales Canada spokeswoman Jennifer Tumminio said the company has two contracts with the Royal Canadian Navy under which it provides “operational readiness” for Arctic and offshore patrol ships, joint support ships, secondary warships and support vessels. It also uses artificial intelligence and cybersecurity to optimize this support.
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Through the partnership with Cohere, Thales will use agent-based artificial intelligence—such as the Cohere North platform—to improve efficiency and operational readiness, “while maintaining the highest standards of safety and ethical deployment,” Tumminio said.
In 2023, the Government of Canada awarded a joint venture of Thales Canada and Thales Australia a C$450 million contract to service small warships and vessels. In 2017, Thales received the award C$800 million maintenance contract for Arctic and offshore patrol and joint support vessels, expandable to C$5.2 billion.
Thales did not share the cost of the Cohere contract. However, Thales Canada said in a press release that the partnership will allow it to comply Canadian Industrial and Technology Incentives Policy. This policy requires companies awarded defense contracts in Canada to conduct business in an amount equal to the value of the contracts they win.
Cohere also signed memorandum of understanding with the federal government to help “transform” public sector operations using AI. At the Reuters NEXT conference in New York on Thursday, Cohere CEO Aidan Gomez claimed that Canada and the United States have an advantage over China in the global race to develop the most effective technologies.
Last rated at US$7 billion (CAD$9.7 billion)To date, Cohere has raised approximately $1.6 billion and grown to 450 employees. This fall, the company said annual revenue topped $200 million. hint at initial public offering soon.”
Image courtesy of Thales Netherland BV.
