Liquid AI just raised $250M to develop a more efficient type of AI model

Liquid AI, an AI startup co-founded by robotics luminary Daniela Rus, has raised $250 million in a Series A led by AMD. Per Bloomberg, the round values Liquid AI at over $2 billion.

Liquid AI aims to build general-purpose AI systems powered by a relatively new type of AI model called a liquid neural network. Liquid neural networks consist of “neurons” governed by equations that predict each individual neuron’s behavior over time. The “liquid” bit in the term “liquid neural networks” refers to the architecture’s flexibility; inspired by the “brains” of roundworms, not only are liquid neural networks much smaller than traditional AI models, but they require far less computing power to run.

Liquid AI aims to develop tailored liquid neural networks for applications like e-commerce, consumer electronics, and biotech. As part of AMD’s investment, Liquid AI says it’ll work with the chipmaker to optimize its models for AMD’s GPUs, CPUs, and AI accelerators.