Canadian AI startup Cohere has appointed Joelle Pineau, Meta’s former Vice President of AI Research, as its new Chief AI Officer to help the company compete with OpenAI and Anthropic. In her new role, Pineau will oversee AI strategy across Cohere’s research, product, and policy teams.
A Canadian AI scientist and professor at McGill University, Pineau helped develop Meta’s FAIR (Fundamental AI Research) lab and co-led the early development of the Llama AI models alongside Yann LeCun. She left Meta in May after nearly eight years.
This hire is significant for Cohere, which expects Pineau to bring research breakthroughs, accelerate product development, and attract top talent. The appointment comes shortly after the startup secured $500 million in funding, with a valuation of $6.8 billion.
Cohere primarily develops AI applications for enterprises and government agencies, emphasizing privacy and security. Pineau said she is excited to focus on practical AI applications: “Many companies are solely focused on AGI and superintelligence. They haven’t fully figured out how AI will be used in real life,” she noted.
At Cohere, Pineau will focus on the North AI agent platform, which enterprises and government agencies can deploy privately on their own infrastructure, making it appealing for clients managing highly sensitive data. She will also explore how AI agents interact in real-world scenarios and develop benchmarks to evaluate these systems.
One immediate challenge for Pineau will be replacing Cohere’s outgoing VP of AI Research, Sara Hooker. Pineau emphasized that building a strong team is not just about hiring top talent, but ensuring effective collaboration: “Hiring a bunch of stars doesn’t necessarily make a star team. It’s really about how people work together.”
Compared to its larger competitors, Cohere operates with fewer resources. Pineau’s role will involve making strategic research decisions that can quickly translate into products and help the startup remain competitive in the AI industry.
