A startup creating energy-light artificial intelligence has raised €19m in Series A funding, promising to solve some of the key problems in AI technology.

Paris-based AnotherBrain is creating the software and microchips for what it is calling a new version of AI called ‘Organic AI’, which it claims can go beyond ordinary AI in several ways.

Firstly, according to founder Bruno Maisonnier, this AI is able to “explain its decisions”, taking away from the usual black-box problem where it is often difficult to ascertain the reasons behind an AI’s decisions.

Secondly, Organic AI is apparently not reliant on large training sets, meaning it uses less computer power and therefore less energy.

Instead, it works by “truly analyzing the flow of data in real-time, just like a human brain does,” according to Jean-Luc Bernard, founder of Astek Group, a systems integrator that has been working with AnotherBrain.

Exactly how AnotherBrain manages to work “just like a human brain” is unclear, but the company hopes it will prove a step forward in particular for the rapidly-growing world of connected devices [IoT].

Maisonnier said that in the world of connected objects, using low amounts of power is crucial. 

“Our technology has the power to make every sensor an intelligent sensor sending back interpretation of signals rather than the flow of raw data,” said Maisonnier.

One example of how this could work in practice is that a surveillance camera could be developed to detect not only what it was told to detect but other perturbations too, according to Maisonnier.

He also said that intelligent sensors could be useful for self-driving cars – noting that with AnotherBrain’s approach, cars could achieve full autonomous driving “by the middle of the next decade”.

Recent years have seen an explosion of interest in AI and a global race to dominate the powerful technology reminiscent of the space race in the 1960s, and AnotherBrain has convinced some well-known backers that ‘Organic AI’ could be an important development in the field.

Investors include AI-dedicated global fund Alpha Intelligence Capital and Paris-based investor Daphni, with SEB Alliance and Robinson Technologies also coming on board.