Cohere just launched “North,” its largest AI bet yet for privacy-focused enterprises

Coherence issued North today a secure AI workspace platform that directly challenges Microsoft Second pilot and Googling Vertex AI in the business market. The company claims its new platform outperforms both tech giants’ offerings across finance, HR, customer support and IT functions.

North combines large language models, search capabilities and automation tools in a secure package that allows companies to deploy AI while maintaining control over sensitive data. The platform operates in private cloud environments or on-premise installations and focuses on regulated sectors such as financial and healthcare.

Security is becoming a key battleground for AI adoption in enterprises

“The artificial intelligence market is maturing and companies are starting to understand the opportunity,” Aidan Gomez, CEO of Cohere, said in a internal company letter shared on LinkedIn last month. “While consumers have fallen in love with the technology and are using it in their daily lives, companies are struggling to keep up.”

Royal Bank of Canada has already collaborated with Cohere to develop North for Banking, a specialized version designed for financial institutions. This marks one of the first major enterprise deployments of the platform.

Search technology promises to reduce workflow times

North’s built-in search system, Compasshandles multiple data types, including images, presentations, spreadsheets, and documents in different languages. Internal testing shows that the system reduces task completion times by more than 80% compared to manual searches.

“It’s becoming clear that it’s not enough for companies to simply deploy or fine-tune an off-the-shelf consumer AI chatbot for a work environment,” Gomez said. “They want something that is adapted to their needs. They want a real partner who will help them achieve their goals.”

The Enterprise AI race is shifting from brute force to practical implementation

Gomez challenged the industry’s focus on computational scale, noting that “data quality and new methods such as synthetic data have advanced far more than scale in the past eighteen months.” He claimed that this approach has made Cohere “an order of magnitude more capital efficient than our competition.”

The platform allows employees to build and customize AI tools to their specific needs, without the need for technical expertise. Early testers include companies in finance, healthcare, manufacturing and infrastructure – sectors where data security has traditionally limited AI adoption.

Cohere North early access

North is currently available via a early access programfocused on the finance, healthcare, manufacturing and critical infrastructure sectors. The launch could reshape how companies implement AI technologies, as companies increasingly prioritize security and customization over raw computing power.

“In the future, every company will be an AI company,” Gomez said, emphasizing the need for secure, quickly deployable solutions.