Synthetaic

Synthetaic is an American artificial intelligence (AI) company founded in 2019 and headquartered in Delafield, Wisconsin.[1]

Synthetaic
Founded2019
FounderCorey Jaskolski
Headquarters
Delafield, WI
,
United States

History

Synthetaic was founded in 2019 by Corey Jasksolski, a National Geographic explorer and fellow. After creating a 3D digitization of a living Sumatran Rhino using a custom imaging system he built, Jaskolski wondered whether synthetic data could be used to train AI.[2][1] While Synthetaic doesn't sell synthetic data, its software uses generative capabilities associated with synthetic data.[3]

In 2021, Synthetaic developed Rapid Automatic Image Categorization, or RAIC, a computer vision software which performs classification and detection on photography, video, and satellite imagery without data labeling.[4]

RAIC is notable for its use of human collaboration with an unsupervised AI model, which allows for iteration upon the algorithm in real-time.[5] RAIC has been described as "ChatGPT for satellite imagery," since it uses transformers to understand imagery in a way somewhat similar to how ChatGPT understands human language.[4]

In May 2023, satellite imaging company Planet Labs announced an official partnership with Synthetaic, through which they would sell RAIC insights for defined areas of interest within Planet data.[6]

Synthetaic announced a strategic partnership with Microsoft in August 2023. Elements of the partnership included selection for Microsoft's Pegasus Program and access to one million hours of GPU cloud computing via Microsoft Azure.[7]

2023 Chinese balloon
See also: 2023 Chinese balloon incident

On 11 February 2023, Synthetaic used its RAIC product to detect a suspected Chinese surveillance balloon in archival Planet Labs data.[8] RAIC's demonstrated ability to quickly analyze Earth observation imagery at scale was deemed novel and a potential "game-changer" by experts including Arthur Holland Michel and Hamed Alemohammad.[9][10]

Synthetaic's work tracking the balloon formed the basis for a New York Times visual investigation, which credited RAIC for providing the precise coordinates of the balloon at twelve different points during its journey.[10][5]

Balloons over East Asia

Later that year, BBC news magazine program Panorama reported additional Chinese surveillance balloons detected over Japan and Taiwan. Security correspondent Gordon Corera cited Synthetaic's RAIC as a tool in their investigation and interviewed Jaskolski.[11]

References
  1. Wiggers, Kyle (15 March 2022). "Synthetaic secures venture funding to expand its synthetic data platform". VentureBeat. Retrieved 28 April 2023.
  2. Jaskolski, Corey. "How the Sumatran Rhino Taught Me to Rethink AI". Toward Data Science. Retrieved 15 May 2023.
  3. Quach, Katyanna. "Fake it until you make it: Can synthetic data help train your AI model?". The Register. Retrieved 15 May 2023.
  4. Tucker, Patrick. "A 'ChatGPT' For Satellite Photos Already Exists". DefenseOne. Retrieved 15 May 2023.
  5. Ocampo, Josh. "A Bird's Eye View of the Chinese Balloon". New York Times. Retrieved 15 May 2023.
  6. Zaroda, Megan. "Planet Announces AI Partnerships at GEOINT 2023". Planet Labs. Retrieved 22 May 2023.
  7. Smart, Ashley. "Delafield-based AI startup Synthetaic announces strategic partnership with Microsoft". BizTimes. Retrieved 7 September 2023.
  8. Erwin, Sandra. "AI startup using satellite imagery to trace the path of Chinese balloon". SpaceNews. Retrieved 15 May 2023.
  9. Stokel-Walker, Chris (25 February 2023). "How One Guy's AI Tracked the Chinese Spy Balloon Across the US". Wired. Retrieved 28 April 2023.
  10. Xiao, Muyi; Jhaveri, Ishaan; Lutz, Eleanor; Koettl, Christopher; Barnes, Julian (20 March 2023). "Tracking the Chinese Balloon from Space". New York Times. Retrieved 28 April 2023.
  11. Corera, Gordon (26 June 2023). "New images show Chinese spy balloons over Asia". BBC News. Retrieved 5 July 2023.
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