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AI startup Counterintuitive is pioneering a new approach to artificial intelligence with a novel chip designed to move beyond mere mimicry and enable true understanding. The company’s focus is on solving the ‘twin trap’ problem, a critical bottleneck limiting current AI capabilities, by developing “reasoning-native computing.” This innovative approach addresses two key limitations.

The first trap lies in the unreliable numerical foundations of existing AI systems, largely due to the limitations of outdated mathematical methods. Specifically, the use of floating-point arithmetic, optimized for speed, introduces rounding errors that can lead to inconsistencies and ‘hallucinations’ in AI outputs. The second trap concerns the architectural shortcomings of current AI models, which lack true memory and reasoning capabilities, often simply predicting the next frame or token in a sequence.

Counterintuitive’s solution is the Artificial Reasoning Unit (ARU), a specialized chip designed to execute causal logic directly in silicon, a departure from the typical reliance on GPUs. This memory-driven reasoning approach aims to create more reliable and auditable AI systems, moving away from probabilistic ‘black boxes’ towards transparent and explainable reasoning processes. By integrating memory-driven causal logic, Counterintuitive hopes to usher in a new era of AI development that transcends the limitations of current models.