North: The AI Agent That Keeps Your Data Inside the Firewall
Why Big Brains Are Still Fearing the Beast
Believe it or not, even the smartest of those new AI agents can still feel like a data‑leaking snake. Corporate giants, regulators, and the entire government apparatus still hold back on adopting LLM tech because of a very simple fear: what if your or your customers’ secrets slide out like a bad typo in a spreadsheet?
Enter Cohere’s North – a Promise of Privacy
North is the answer the industry has been waiting for. It lets companies tuck that AI baby inside their own walls—on local machines, in private clouds or even a physically air‑gapped basement server. The result? No data ever touches the outside world.
- Deploy on one or two GPUs (perfect – even that dusty GPU in a closet from last year).
- Runs on on‑prem, hybrid clouds, VPCs, or complete isolation—pick your environment.
- No “cloud” storage—data stays in‑house, never leaving the firewall.
Security, Compliance and the “Never‑Give‑Up” Attitude
Cohere put a safety net around North, giving it a full password guard: granular access control, autonomous agent policies, constant “red‑team” drills, and third‑party security audits. And yes, it meets the big names: GDPR, SOC‑2, ISO 27001. No surprises—just a robust guard house with a friendly doorbell.
Backed by the Brain Behind the Machine
Nick Frosst, the co‑founder, told us that LLMs are only as good as the data they’ve seen. If we want them to help us solve real problems, the data has to stay where it belongs—within the organization’s own environment. That’s why North is built to be friendly to the existing infrastructure, and easy on the hardware budgets.
With all that, the verdict is clear: Next‑gen AI agents can finally keep the data safe so everyone in the company—and the customers—can breathe easy.
More than private deployments
Cohere’s A.I. Adventure: From $970M to $5.5B Fortune
Picture this: an AI startup that’s taken the tech world by storm, raising a staggering $970 million so far. The latest moves, though, have pushed its valuation up to a cool $5.5 billion. Intriguing, right?
Now, Cohere isn’t just talking the talk—they’ve already rolled out their “North” platform to a roster of major players. If you think big corporations are all about spreadsheets, think again: they’re getting serious with AI.
Customers Who’ve Jumped On the Bandwagon
- RBC — because banks know a thing or two about data.
- Dell — building PCs but now building smarter ones.
- LG — watching for futuristic home tech.
- Ensemble Health Partners — making healthcare data a dance.
- Palantir — “great‑field intelligence” enthusiasts, thanks to that TechCrunch episode.
In short, Cohere’s making waves, and if you’re looking for an exciting partner in the AI sphere, you might want to keep an eye on how this company rolls out its partnership program.
Tech and VC heavyweights join the Disrupt 2025 agenda
Netflix, ElevenLabs, Wayve, Sequoia Capital, Elad Gil — just a few of the heavy hitters joining the Disrupt 2025 agenda. They’re here to deliver the insights that fuel startup growth and sharpen your edge. Don’t miss the 20th anniversary of TechCrunch Disrupt, and a chance to learn from the top voices in tech — grab your ticket now and save up to $600+ before prices rise.
Tech and VC heavyweights join the Disrupt 2025 agenda
Netflix, ElevenLabs, Wayve, Sequoia Capital — just a few of the heavy hitters joining the Disrupt 2025 agenda. They’re here to deliver the insights that fuel startup growth and sharpen your edge. Don’t miss the 20th anniversary of TechCrunch Disrupt, and a chance to learn from the top voices in tech — grab your ticket now and save up to $675 before prices rise.
Meet North: Your AI Sidekick for the Modern Workplace
Picture this: an AI that can’t just answer questions but actually grabs your hand and walks you through the whole process. That’s North, a shiny new platform from Cohere that’s already making waves in the office gig.
What North Can Do (and Why It’s a Total Game‑Changer)
- Chat & Search – Think of it like a super‑smart search bar that talks back. You can ask for customer support answers, get instant summaries of meeting transcripts, draft snappy marketing copy, or even pull up details from your internal library and the web. And the best part? Every reply comes with citations and clear “reasoning” steps so you (and the auditors) can trust what it says.
- Table & Document Builder – Need a fresh spreadsheet or a polished slide deck? North can whip those up for you, no hassle.
- Market Research Assistant – “Dig up insights?” North dives into data, crunching numbers and spotting trends so you can focus on strategy.
Powered by Cohere’s Genius Tech
- Uses Command – a family of generative AI models re‑trained specifically to reason in an enterprise setting.
- Also plugs into Compass – their slick multimodal search stack that does the heavy lifting of finding the right info.
Getting Connected – It’s All About the Ecosystem
- Direct integrations: Gmail, Slack, Salesforce, Outlook, Linear, and basically any workplace tool you could dream of.
- Supports MCP (Model Context Protocol) servers – let’s say you’ve got a secret sauce of industry data or a custom app; North can tap into it.
- And because it’s built for enterprises, it slides from being a helpful assistant all the way to an automated powerhouse as you grow trust and confidence.
Notable Backstory: Ottogrid Acquisition
Just a few months ago, Cohere took in Ottogrid – a Vancouver‑based platform that automates intricate market research. That means North gets a fresh boost of tools that make data crunching even snappier.
Quick Correction
A previous edit accidentally misnamed Alex Frosst’s title. Our sincerest apologies for the mix‑up!