AI21 Labs Unveils New System To Better Assist With Language Models

AI21 Labs, the natural language processing (NLP-as-a-service company behind AI language apps Wordtune and Wordtune Read, has developed a new system that uses proprietary databases and real-time, constantly updated information sources such as weather apps and Wikidata as well as calculators and currency converters to develop a better understanding of language.

Natural language processing mixes linguistics, computer science, and artificial intelligence to help computers process data concerned with how humans use language.

The Modular Reasoning Knowledge and Language System (MRKL, which is pronounced “miracle”) system, was announced in a new technical paper, and its first implementation, Jurassic-X, is available on AI21 Studio, a developer platform that offers instant access to the company’s 178B-parameter language model Jurassic-1, the company said in a statement.

Advertising and marketing agency Publicis Groupe, signed on with AI21 Labs as design partners for Jurassic-X. 

“It is impossible for pre-trained language models to keep up with dynamic information such as fluctuating exchange rates, weather forecasts, and constantly updating sources like Wikidata.” said Yoav Shoham, co-founder of AI21 Labs, “In this way, current language models fall short of their true potential: a general-purpose natural language interface to knowledge tasks.”

AI21 Labs was co-founded in 2018 by Shoham, Ori Goshen, a former member of the famed 8200 tech unit of the IDF and a repeat entrepreneur, and Amnon Shashua, professor at the Hebrew University and co-founder and CEO of Mobileye, acquired by Intel, and OrCam Technologies. AI21 Labs specializes in integrated AI solutions to evolve the way people interact with text. AI21’s previous project was Wordtune, an AI writing companion capable of understanding the context and meaning of text and offering alternative ways to write ideas more clearly. The company has raised a total of $54.5M in funding over four rounds, according to Crunchbase.