We are surrounded by “biological” and “evolutionary” intelligence, much of which remains unnoticed and undervalued. From the individual cells in our bodies that autonomously form tissue and organ systems to the synchronized movements of ant colonies that self-organize and thrive with remarkable efficiency—these are natural algorithms that even the most advanced AIs of 2024 struggle to replicate.
Over the course of a billion years, evolution—the universe’s most sophisticated search algorithm—has meticulously optimized innumerable variables to craft the phenomenon we know as life, eventually culminating in the emergence of humanity. Yet, despite the profound brilliance rooted in biological systems, the organic and evolutionary mechanisms of these systems often go underappreciated in the field of computing. Instead, we have decided to collectively gravitate towards and invest in biologically implausible or “artificial” representations of this intelligence.
It’s important to acknowledge that “conventional AI” has provided transformative and incredibly impactful tools over the past decades, significantly advancing human progress (we actually used LLMs to help us write this better, so thank you, transformers!). However, in our pursuit to morph something inherently “artificial” into something more “biological,” we have engaged in a time-honored human tradition: brute force.
Our default of “brute-forcing” has led us down a path where, instead of emulating the efficiency and resilience of biological systems that thrived in resource-scarce environments, we’ve chosen the opposite path. We rely on nearly limitless computing power, parameters, and data, all of which drastically increase AI’s energy needs. As a result, we’re facing a looming crisis: it is projected that by 2035, AI and data processing could consume energy equivalent to the world’s entire production capacity*— that just plainly sounds bad and ominous.
World Energy Consumption – Semiconductor Industry Association (SIA)
The survival of intelligent life through evolutionary pressures was contingent on its efficiency; failure to adapt meant extinction which is why our biological brains consume 20W and not 2,000,000,000W (Billion Watts) of energy. This raises a compelling question: what if we could harness what is inherently “biological and evolutionary” and apply it to modern computing systems?
This shared vision became the catalyst for founding Vivum. Our combined 35 years of pioneering cutting-edge technologies across life sciences, general computing, defense, B2B, SaaS, and cloud, coupled with our deep expertise in applied computational neuroethology and foundational AI research, development, and commercialization in heavily regulated environments, have given us a unique strategic perspective. We’re driven to bring this transformative technology to the world stage, ushering in a long overdue era of intelligence that uplifts all life on earth.
Our Mission
At Vivum, we’re on a mission to create AI that mirrors the efficiency and resilience of biological systems. Our initial approach is simple yet profound: we’re swapping out the mαth without the need to retool, purchase new hardware, or introduce novel pie-in-the-sky architectures that are decades away.
Drawing inspiration from biological systems, we’re using foundational dynamic models like Continuous-Time Recurrent Neural Networks (CTRNNs) and Liquid Neural Networks (LNNs) to process information in dynamic and compute-efficient ways. Instead of relying on GPU farms that devour energy and resources almost exclusively for matrix calculations, we’ve embraced the elegance of differential equations—the mαthematics of the natural world.
By applying this approach to existing computing hardware, we’re creating AI that is more efficient and better aligned with the intelligence woven into the fabric of life.
Our Commitment
At Vivum, we’re ushering in a new era of efficient computing that breaks free from the resource-intensive status quo. This isn’t just a theoretical idea; it’s a practical and actionable solution to a pressing global issue.
Last we checked, humans aren’t alone here on earth. Vivum is committed to forging a biospheric-centered computing paradigm that benefits not just humanity but all forms of life. Our planet urgently demands it.
We believe that focusing solely on “propelling humanity forward” (a seemingly repetitive theme these days) risks neglecting the broader biospherical context. Yes, we do move forward, but often at the expense of everything else that isn’t human. This approach is both unsustainable and unacceptable.
This isn’t just about technology; it’s about the world we’re shaping for those we love and cherish – the born and the yet-to-be-born, the planned and the unplanned, the ones we see and the ones we can only imagine. It’s time to break another time-honored, history-repeats-itself tradition – the wanton disregard for future generations and our natural human tendency to myopically focus on the here and now. In a world facing water scarcity, can we really justify using 1.7 billion gallons to cool AI supercomputers? Take that statistic in for a second.
Despite what you may or may not have heard – there is another way – it’s been hiding in plain sight.
What Do You Stand for?
We understand that Vivum may not resonate with everyone, particularly those entrenched in the conventional AI approach of relentless brute force and ad-hoc solutions—plenty of companies and organizations already cater to that approach. Hence, the arms race for more hardware and compute resources (the new “oil”) and the ambitious plans to fuse atoms to power its future.
It is also not for those merely chasing the latest “shiny” AI trend (dynamic models have been around for decades, so it’s nothing new)—there’s no shortage of those as well.
Vivum was created for those who are driven to break a few time-honored traditions that perpetuate “unintelligence.”
It’s for thinkers who prioritize first principles and seek to engage with the very foundations of technology.
It’s for the curious and humble, those who are willing to revisit (and possibly reassess) everything they think they know about “AI”—one from a computing-first, biology-second perspective to one that is biology-first, computing-second.
It’s also for those who believe (to their very CORE) that there are better ways to be productive and contribute to an organization and to society, recognizing that the current way of “working” or “showing up” is disconnected from reality.
Finally, Vivum is for those who believe that the path to a sustainable and intelligent future is not a distant dream but an imperative we must act upon today—beyond the hype and novelty. We’re breaking free from the cycle of excessive energy consumption and resource depletion.
If you share our beliefs and want to break free from unintelligent cycles, join us.
Together, we can unlock the power of biological intelligence for scalable AI.
SINCERELY,
ALDO CARRASCOSO (CEO) AND DEREK WHITLEY (CTO)
