Sepp Hochreiter, an AI pioneer, co-founded the start-up NXAI with the goal of developing basic technology that uses less computing power and energy compared to common models behind applications such as ChatGPT. Recently, the company published results on the xLSTM technology, an extended version of the Long Short-Term Memory (LSTM) technology co-developed by Hochreiter. This technology, which serves as the basis for applications like Apple’s Siri and Amazon’s Alexa, aims to outperform the rival Transformer technology in various areas.
According to a study published by NXAI and the Institute for Machine Learning at JKU Linz, xLSTM has shown to be more cost-effective and efficient in terms of performance and scaling compared to common models. Hochreiter mentioned that the further developed technology surpasses models from OpenAI, Google, and Meta in most cases. The next step for NXAI is to work on applications, with plans to have the first products ready by the end of the year.
To support their development efforts, NXAI is raising funds, as training AI models requires expensive computing power. Hochreiter mentioned that they have spent $10 million so far and are aiming to raise $100 million for the next round of financing by the end of the year. The company’s shareholders include Pierer Digital Holding, industrialist Stefan Pierer, and Linz company Netural X. Funding is expected to come mainly from European investors, with offers from Saudi Arabia and Chinese Huawei group already rejected. NXAI also plans to reach out to US companies like Amazon and Microsoft for collaboration on customer contacts and access to computing power.
NXAI is targeting companies primarily with its solutions, with applications seen in industrial automation, programming, materials research, and medicine, according to managing director Albert Ortig. The company aims to provide efficient and cost-effective AI solutions to industries looking to leverage the latest technology advancements.