Canadian AI firm Cohere officially launched its agent platform called North on August 6, 2025, enabling enterprises and government agencies to keep sensitive data within their own infrastructure while using AI. North's unique approach deploys AI systems directly in customers' environments—whether on-premises, in hybrid clouds, virtual private clouds, or air-gapped systems—preventing data from leaving the organization's firewalls or being used to train external foundation models.
Cohere, which has raised a total of $970 million in funding and currently operates at a $5.5 billion valuation, has already tested the North platform with several major corporations, including RBC, Dell, LG, Ensemble Health Partners, and Palantir. According to Nick Frosst, co-founder of Cohere, the system has minimal hardware requirements, needing as few as two GPUs to operate, while complying with international standards such as GDPR, SOC-2, and ISO 27001. The platform offers numerous AI capabilities including chat, search, document generation, and market research, and integrates with existing workplace tools like Gmail, Slack, Salesforce, Outlook, and Linear.
North targets industries where strict data privacy requirements have previously hindered widespread AI adoption, particularly in finance, healthcare, and government sectors. Dr. Foteini Agrafioti, Chief Science Officer at RBC, highlighted the importance of secure AI deployment in their partnership, through which they jointly developed the customized North for Banking platform. Industry analysts suggest North could increase AI adoption in regulated sectors by reducing data privacy concerns, while its minimal hardware requirements and broad interoperability may appeal to organizations looking to launch AI projects without significant upfront investment.
Sources:
Rebecca Bellan
Kukarella
