Kimera Systems Acquires Smart Places to Bring Advanced Strong Artificial Intelligence to Mobile Devices

Acquisition brings increased development capabilities, end user apps and an installed base to grow Strong AI platform

PORTLAND, Ore.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Kimera Systems (www.kimerasystems.com), producers of the world’s first strong artificial intelligence engine for connected devices, today announced its acquisition of Smart Places, developer of location and context aware mobile apps for real world social networking. Kimera also announced that Smart Places CEO, Dr. Michael Pedersen, will join its executive team as vice president of engineering. The combination of Kimera Systems’ Digital Me (DMe™) strong AI technology and Smart Places™ consumer app development capabilities will produce the first intelligent, context-aware general assistant that anticipates users’ needs and proactively suggests content and services that enhance the mobile experience, making it faster and easier.

“Mobile technology is a hot space with lots of exciting technology, but people adopt it because of what mobile can do for mundane everyday situations”

“Mobile technology is a hot space with lots of exciting technology, but people adopt it because of what mobile can do for mundane everyday situations,” said Mounir Shita, CEO of Kimera Systems. “People use their smartphones for email, weather, maps, shopping and other day to day activities, where connections to the Internet and location services can add great utility. Kimera Systems sees the next evolution of mobile to be one of intelligence – specifically artificial intelligence – where devices can anticipate the information and services you need even before you know you need it, and the acquisition of Smart Places brings us much closer to seeing this revolution light up.”

Existing “intelligent assistants” technologies today, such as Siri and Google Now, are closed systems utilizing “weak AI.” With the DMe technology integrated, Smart Places will be the first intelligent general assistant utilizing “strong AI” technology that understands you, your life, the purpose of your actions, and what goals you are working towards. Using DMe’s globally scalable neural network with its open development framework, Smart Places can quickly scale across vertical markets allowing it to proactively work to help you in everyday life.

Prior to this acquisition, Kimera Systems and Smart Places had been collaborating on the development of a more intelligent social check-in and post check-in experience by integrating Kimera Systems’ DMe client technology into the Smart Places mobile app. Through this collaboration it was decided the best course for both companies was to combine forces through Kimera Systems’ acquisition of Smart Places’ talent, intellectual property, technology, installed app user base and revenue. The new version of Smart Places including DMe technology will be available in early Q1 2013.

Dr. Michael Pederson holds a PhD degree in Informatics from Edinburgh University, Scotland. In addition to his work at Smart Places, he is a fellow with the British government’s Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council (EPSRC) at Cambridge University where he has worked computer science concepts applied to biology.

About Kimera Systems

Kimera Systems produces the world’s first Strong AI technology to make phones and other networked devices smarter. Kimera’s breakthrough makes smartphones aware of users’ personal needs and the context of their activities. With this awareness, Kimera transforms passive apps and devices, which today require user inputs, into a dynamic services environment that constantly adapts to users' needs. Kimera’s technology increases capabilities of favorite apps, and proactively launches apps and delivers information that assists a user's everyday life. For more information visit www.kimerasystems.com.