Bell and Cohere Partner to Sell AI Tools to Governments and Businesses

Bell Canada, a leading telecom company, has partnered with Canadian AI company Cohere to sell AI tools to governments and businesses. The partnership will allow Bell to offer Cohere's large language model software, North, to its enterprise and government customers, while also hosting the technology on its data centre infrastructure. This move is seen as a way for Canadian companies to have an alternative to American cloud computing giants like Microsoft and Amazon.

Key Takeaways:

• The partnership will use a revenue-share model, where Bell will offer Cohere's services to customers through its enterprise arm and split the proceeds with Cohere.
• Bell will use Cohere's AI technology internally to improve productivity and efficiency among its employees.
• Cohere's revenue has doubled to US$100-million annually, with more than 90% of revenue coming from outside Canada.
• The partnership is seen as a way for Canadian companies to reduce reliance on American tech companies for crucial digital services like AI and cloud computing.
• Bell has set a goal to reach $1-billion in revenue from its enterprise business by 2030.
• The company is opening six AI data centres in British Columbia, with the first one operational and another switching online in December or January.

Statistics:

• Cohere's annualized revenue has doubled to US$100-million.
• More than 90% of Cohere's revenue comes from outside Canada.
• Bell's goal is to reach $1-billion in revenue from its enterprise business by 2030.
• The company has opened six AI data centres in British Columbia.
• The first AI data centre is operational, with another switching online in December or January.

Sources:

• Irene Galea, Joe Castaldo, "Bell and Cohere partner to sell AI tools to governments and businesses", The Globe and Mail
• BCE and Bell Chief Executive Officer Mirko Bibic
• Cohere co-founder and CEO Aidan Gomez
• Source familiar with the matter (author not identified)