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Webmind
is a New York-based software company born of a shared vision of
business and technology leaders devoted to developing a technology
that uses intelligence to perform useful tasks.
Dr. Ben Goertzel, one of the world's preeminent
cognitive scientists, had devoted years of his life to developing a
true Artificial Intelligence architecture -- one that could not only
enhance problem-solving technologies, but create them -- when he met
Lisa Pazer, a major Wall Street analyst specializing in technology,
in the mid- 1990s. Goertzel
wanted to develop convincing
real-world applications for his AI architecture; Pazer comprehended
the opportunities Webmind presented in the business world. In 1997
they incorporated Intelligenesis, the precursor of Webmind, with
Pazer at CEO and Goertzel as CTO, to bring Goertzel's vision to
fruition.
Goertzel and Pazer immediately assembled a crack team of business
technologists to get Webmind up and running, including software
architects Ken Silverman and Paul Baclace, cognitive scientist and
market prediction avatar Jeff Pressing, software designer Onar Aam,
and quality-assurance guru George Fink. With their assistance,
Webmind achieved its first breakthroughs in natural-language
processing applications, including the creation of TextCruncher.
By 1998 Webmind had developed sufficiently to require significant
top-level support. Through Goertzel's contacts in the computer
science community in Belo Horizonte, site of the world-famous
University at Minas Gerais, they recruited several engineers and CS
experts and placed them under the direction of Cassio Pennachin, our
current VP of AI Development.
By the following year, NewsCruncher had debuted and Webmind's
market prediction applications were showing excellent results in
independent tests -- and attracting prospects to the young company.
Pazer, devoting more of her time to proselytizing for Webmind, hired
the former head of Fixed Income and Treasuries at Swiss Bank, Andy
Siciliano, as Chief Executive Officer. Siciliano in turn recruited a
new team of senior executive talent to Webmind, and began to spread
the Webmind gospel in the IT and financial community. More tech
talent, including machine learning team leaders John Cleary, current
Director of Research Pei Wang, a well-known expert on computational
reasoning, and a former student of AI legend Douglas Hofstadter, and
former Bell Labs multimedia researcher Stephan Vladimir Bugaj, now
DCTO, beefed up the Webmind team.
Work on Webmind proceeds apace. In contrast to the high-level
technologist defections that are common in our industry, virtually
all of Webmind's original technology leaders have remained on board
to see Webmind into its next era of development, developing its core
system and its applications. Through the efforts of Pazer and
Goertzel, and attracted by Webmind's growing reputation in the AI
and CS communities, Webmind also continues to recruit top executive
and technology talent. And as our partnerships and press releases
show, Webmind's message is spreading quickly throughout the business
community as well.
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