Executives from Humane depart to establish an AI fact-checking startup

As Humane faces challenges in the emerging AI hardware market, two of its prominent employees have departed to establish their own venture. This scenario is reminiscent of Humane’s beginnings, where founders Bethany Bongiorno and Imran Chaudhri left their long-term positions at Apple to start their own company.

Brooke Hartley Moy, former Strategic Partnerships Lead, and Ken Kocienda, former Head of Product Engineering at Humane, have launched a new startup called Infactory. Unlike Humane, which delves into hardware, Infactory is focusing on creating a fact-checking search engine. The project is still in its early stages, but the founders have shared their plans, a notable departure from Humane’s pre-launch secrecy.

AI will be integral to Infactory’s operations. Kocienda, with a 16-year tenure at Apple and early involvement in AI, and Hartley Moy, now CEO and CTO respectively, aim to use AI judiciously. Large language models (LLMs) will facilitate a natural language interface for the platform, allowing users to obtain the desired results without complex queries.

However, AI will not influence the search results themselves. Unlike Google’s search results, which often feature summaries generated by AI, Infactory will retrieve information directly from verified sources, including citations. This approach aims to avoid the hallucinations common in current generative AI services and enhance reliability.

Infactory plans to offer subscription-based services targeted at enterprise customers, such as newsrooms and research facilities, rather than individual consumers. The initial focus will be on providing data-centric results rather than delving into subjective topics like politics.

For example, a financial publication might use Infactory to directly compare the annual financials of two companies. Similarly, users could compare the sales figures of Apple and Samsung devices over the past five years, with the service collating and presenting the relevant data.

Overall, Infactory’s approach aims to balance the use of AI for enhancing user interaction while ensuring the accuracy and reliability of the information provided, positioning itself as a valuable tool for enterprises needing precise and trustworthy data.