AI21 Appoints Ambassador Tom Nides as First Independent Board Member

News provided by

Nov 21, 2023, 12:30 ET

Former Morgan Stanley Vice Chairman and COO joins board of advisors

TEL AVIV, Israel, Nov. 21, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- AI21, a leader in AI systems for enterprise, announced today the appointment of Tom Nides, former US Ambassador to Israel, as a Board Member. In his role, Nides will advise on the company's continued expansion into the enterprise market in North America. He brings decades of experience in US government and leadership at top financial firms, including Morgan Stanley.

"With so many voices in the generative AI space, many companies are looking to stand out. AI21 goes beyond the initial AI hype to create reliable and scalable tools for real-world applications," said Nides. "I am looking forward to bringing a unique perspective to the executive board as AI21 helps our customers and partners advance using state-of-the-art large language models."

This appointment is a testament to the interest that large US enterprises in the financial sector have shown in AI21's easily-integratable LLM-based solutions, which include both developer tools for constructing NLP applications and end-user tools for reading and writing via Wordtune. Combined with its already strong existing US partnerships and the large total addressable market for generative AI, the company is continuing to move forward with expansion in the US.

Nides has extensive experience in finance and public policy. He most recently served as the United States' Ambassador to Israel, spending two years as the nation's top diplomat there before leaving his post this past summer. Prior to his time in Israel, he spent nearly a decade at Morgan Stanley as Chief Operating Officer, Managing Director, and Vice Chairman, and serving on the Operating and Management Committees where he focused on the firm's management as well as global client relationships.

"For an enterprise to take large language models beyond the experimentation phase and into mass deployment, they must be not only accurate, but also able to accomplish tasks specific to many different markets, including the financial sector," said Ori Goshen, co-CEO and co-founder of AI21. "As we continue to innovate and provide the best in industry generative AI solutions, we are excited to welcome Tom to our executive board, where he will bring a unique US perspective into the financial sector, allowing us to better understand and serve our customers in these new markets."

Founded in 2017 by AI leaders Professor Amnon Shasuha, Professor Yoav Shoham, and Ori Goshen, AI21 was among the first to bring generative AI to the masses. The company has built a strong and dedicated customer base serving consumers and Fortune 100 companies with the power of Wordtune and AI21 Studio, respectively. Market-leading customers in diverse sectors include Carrefour, Clarivate, eBay, Guesty, Monday.com, and Ubisoft. The company was also named on the first-ever CB Insights GenAI 50 List of Most Innovative Generative AI Startups.

About AI21
AI21 is a leader in generative AI and Large Language Models, with the mission to empower businesses with state-of-the-art LLMs and AI applications. Founded in 2017, AI21 has raised a total of $336 million, with the most recent Series C round closing at $208 million in November 2023. It was among the first companies to bring generative AI to the masses and, to date, offers consumer applications and enterprise solutions. With the developer platform AI21 Studio, businesses can build their own generative AI-driven applications and services with the world's most advanced family of language models, Jurassic-2. AI21's consumer product, Wordtune, is the first AI-based reading and writing assistant to understand context and meaning, enabling its millions of users to refine and generate text or read and summarize text within seconds. For more information, please visit www.AI21.com.

SOURCE AI21 Labs