Fadaee takes over for Sara Hooker to lead the AI company’s research lab.
Toronto-based artificial intelligence (AI) scaleup Cohere has promoted staff research scientist Marzieh Fadaee to head of its non-profit research division, Cohere Labs, replacing outgoing leader Sara Hooker.
“It’s an honor and a responsibility to lead such an extraordinary group of researchers pushing the boundaries of AI research,” Fadaee wrote in LinkedIn and X posts announcing the news.
Fadaee thanked Hooker for shaping Cohere Labs and said she looks forward to working with Joelle Pineau, Cohere’s new chief AI officer, to write the AI research lab’s “next chapter.”
“I’m looking forward to this next chapter, and to the discoveries we’ll make together.”
Fadaee previously worked under Hooker’s leadership as a staff research scientist at Cohere Labs. There, she focused on complex problems and fundamental research in language understanding. In a reply to Fadaee’s X post, Hooker congratulated her successor on the promotion.
BetaKit has reached out to Cohere for comment on Fadaee’s appointment, and what the strategy for Cohere Labs will look like going forward. We did not receive a response by press time
Founded in 2019 by former Google researchers, Cohere builds large language models (LLMs) that power chatbots and other AI applications. After closing $500 million USD at a $6.8-billion valuation last month, Cohere has now raised approximately $1.5 billion USD. The funding has helped cement its status as one of Canada’s best-funded and most valuable private technology companies.
RELATED: “Academically disingenuous”: Cohere co-founder calls out Sam Altman for AGI hype
Cohere crossed $100 million USD in annualized revenue this May and expects to generate more than $200 million by the end of 2025. However, the 450-person firm faces stiff competition from larger American LLM developers like OpenAI and Anthropic, as well as deep-pocketed tech giants like Google and Meta that are building their own AI models.
After spending five years as a research scientist with Google DeepMind, Hooker joined Cohere in 2022 to lead Cohere Labs. Earlier this summer, she announced her departure, later writing in a LinkedIn post that she would stay on through September to oversee applications for Cohere’s Research Scholars program. At time of publication, Hooker’s LinkedIn profile still indicates that she is vice president of research and head of Cohere Labs.
Cohere confirmed to BetaKit last month that Pineau, Meta’s former vice president of AI research and lead of the company’s Fundamental AI Research lab, will have oversight of Cohere Labs in her AI chief position . The Canadian computer scientist has been tasked with directing research and product development at Cohere based out of its new office in Montréal.
Hooker’s departure, Fadaee’s promotion, and Pineau’s appointment are part of a string of leadership changes at Cohere. President Martin Kon is also departing, CTO Saurabh Baji is being replaced by former chief scientist Phil Blunsom, and former Uber executive Francois Chadwick has been named Cohere’s first CFO.
Fadaee’s LinkedIn profile indicates that she is based in Amsterdam. Before joining Cohere, Fadaee served as the natural language processing research lead at Dutch AI startup Zeta Alpha. She became a senior research scientist for Cohere in early 2023, and transitioned to staff research scientist this January.
Cohere Labs aims to solve complex machine learning (ML) problems. The company describes the unit as a “hybrid lab” with both a dedicated research staff and support for open science initiatives that collaborates with independent researchers globally on ML research.
“At its core, Cohere Labs is about advancing open science, tackling fundamental research questions, and sharing knowledge broadly, always guided by the pleasure of finding things out,” Fadaee wrote. “I’m looking forward to this next chapter, and to the discoveries we’ll make together.”
Feature image courtesy Cohere