Rob Williams knew how to pitch Jeff Bezos: write as if the product already exists. This time he was collaborating with neuroscientist Thomas Reardon, pitching an idea for a synthetic brain running on 50 watts or less.
Their goal? To build AI that matches human learning efficiency and energy use. Current large language models are power-hungry, consuming more than 30 times the energy of a human brain while requiring massive data input.
Reardon and Williams have assembled an expert team to hunt for the brain’s ‘core algorithm,’ using advanced lab equipment and original wet experiments. Their proof of concept is thriving inside our skulls, as Reardon puts it: 'A human baby learns with just a couple hundred thousand utterances.'
The proposal didn’t bother Bezos; he invested $50 million, reported to have doubled his stake. With a war chest now at $500 million and a valuation of $2.5 billion, Flourish aims to invent a new way to do AI.
