John R. Frank, CEO of Diffeo, a Cambridge-based startup developing artificial agents that collaborate with you. The platform engages all aspects of your digital life, so our machine learning algorithms can see what you are studying and doing. The digital “sensors” enable our unique collaborative machine learning algorithms.
Diffeo’s first application is an AI-powered research assistant that works with you in familiar tools such as Chrome and Microsoft Outlook. Diffeo uncovers new connections from disparate sources, including the Internet and private data stores. The Diffeo agent is augmenting decision makers in operations teams and analyst teams of businesses and the most critical government institutions across the world.
John is an entrepreneur and theoretical physicist with a long-standing interest in improving how people digest complex information. In 1999, John founded MetaCarta, which pioneered map-based search with statistical natural language processing that helps people find everything written about any place. Nokia acquired MetaCarta in 2010. John served as Chief Architect for Search at Nokia until 2012 when he founded Diffeo with two other Hertz Fellows from MIT. John is ABD at MIT in soft condensed matter physics where his research focuses on understanding how curvature influences chemical reactions and patterns on membranes. John holds a B.S. in physics with distinction from Yale University where he led Yale’s first solar car team.
