RAIC Labs
| Company type | Private |
|---|---|
| Industry | Artificial intelligence |
| Founded | 2019 |
| Founder | Corey Jaskolski |
| Headquarters | Delafield, Wisconsin , United States |
Key people | Corey Jaskolski (founder) |
| Products | Rapid Automatic Image Categorization (RAIC) |
RAIC Labs, previously known as Synthetaic, is a United States-based company specializing in artificial intelligence (AI), established in 2019 and located in Delafield, Wisconsin.
History
Corey Jaskolski, a National Geographic explorer, founded RAIC Labs in 2019. His initial work involved creating a 3D digital model of a living Sumatran Rhino using a bespoke imaging system. This project led him to investigate the use of synthetic data for AI training purposes. Although RAIC Labs does not directly market synthetic data, its technology incorporates generative functions related to this concept.
In 2021, RAIC Labs introduced Rapid Automatic Image Categorization (RAIC), a computer vision tool capable of classifying and detecting features within photographs, videos, and satellite imagery without the need for labeled datasets. RAIC combines human input with an unsupervised AI framework, allowing algorithms to be refined in real time. The software has been likened to "ChatGPT for satellite imagery," employing transformers to analyze images in a manner similar to how ChatGPT processes text.
By May 2023, RAIC Labs formed a partnership with satellite imagery provider Planet Labs, enabling the distribution of insights generated by RAIC within Planet’s datasets for targeted regions. Later that year, RAIC Labs entered into a strategic alliance with Microsoft, joining the Pegasus Program and gaining access to one million GPU cloud computing hours through Microsoft Azure.
2023 Tracking the Chinese balloon
On February 11, 2023, RAIC Labs utilized its RAIC platform to identify a suspected Chinese surveillance balloon in archived Planet Labs imagery. Experts such as Arthur Holland Michel and Hamed Alemohammad praised RAIC’s swift analysis of Earth observation data as potentially transformative.
The tracking data provided by RAIC Labs served as the foundation for a visual investigation by the New York Times, which acknowledged RAIC’s role in supplying accurate coordinates of the balloon at twelve distinct points along its path.
Balloons over East Asia
Later in 2023, the BBC programme Panorama reported on additional Chinese surveillance balloons detected over Japan and Taiwan. Security correspondent Gordon Corera highlighted RAIC as an essential investigative resource and conducted an interview with Jaskolski.
2023 Mapping the Israel–Gaza war
RAIC Labs partnered with CNN to identify more than 500 impact craters exceeding 123 meters across geospatial data, effectively mapping bombing sites during the Israel–Gaza conflict. This work supported CNN’s coverage on the extent of Israeli airstrikes and underscored RAIC’s ability to deliver actionable intelligence in conflict zones.
Funding
In February 2024, Synthetaic completed a Series B funding round, raising $15 million.