Numenta Creates Independent Nonprofit with the Thousand Brains Project to Advance AI Research

The new collaborative AI initiative will increase global engagement in researching sensorimotor intelligence and building an open-source AI framework

REDWOOD CITY, Calif.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Numenta Inc., a leader in neuroscience-based AI technology, has announced the creation of its open-source Thousand Brains Project as a new, non-profit entity. Grounded in decades of research at Numenta, the Thousand Brains Project aims to create a new type of artificial intelligence based on the sensorimotor principles observed in the brain.

The new organization is led by Executive Director Dr. Viviane Clay, a scientist with years of experience in neuroscience, AI and machine learning, alongside a dedicated team of seven full-time employees. Numenta co-founder Jeff Hawkins will serve as Research Advisor and Board Member of the Thousand Brains Project while continuing his role on Numenta’s board.

“Numenta was founded on a dual mission: to reverse-engineer the neocortex and apply those neocortical principles to advance AI,” says Hawkins. “This transition marks a significant milestone in our journey. Numenta will apply its neuroscience derived technology to advance deep learning based AI, while the Thousand Brains Project will build an entirely new form of AI based on sensorimotor learning. Placing the Thousand Brains Project in its own independent nonprofit will enable the development of a worldwide community of researchers focused on this goal.”

Numenta has put all its patents related to the Thousand Brains Project under a non-assert pledge, allowing the new nonprofit and anyone else working with this approach to freely utilize it. In November 2024, the project’s code was released under an MIT license, permitting both research and commercial applications. Establishing the project as a separate nonprofit reinforces its commitment to open, unrestricted research, maximizing its potential to benefit a global audience.

Adds Dr. Clay, “We’ve been so pleased with how people all over the world have embraced the project since we launched. I hope this announcement encourages as many people as possible to engage with this completely independent open-source project and community.”

Those interested in the project can visit thousandbrains.org to learn more.

About Numenta

Rooted in two decades of neuroscience research, Numenta has mapped their neuroscience-based advances to develop AI technology that accelerates Transformer models (such as BERT and GPT) while drastically reducing cost and power consumption. For more information, visit www.numenta.com.

About the Thousand Brains Project

Built on the efforts of Jeff Hawkins and Numenta to understand how the brain works, the Thousand Brains Project was created to forge a new type of artificial intelligence based on the principles of the neocortex. This ambitious endeavor to rethink AI from the ground up centers around an open-source framework for AI that learns continuously and efficiently through active interaction with the world, just like children do. For more information visit thousandbrains.org