Luda raises $7M in funding for AI training simulation

venturebeat.com:

Luda, which specializes in allowing users to train and launch their own AI agents, announced this week that it’s launching a new system called Real-Time Reinforcement Learning (RT-RL). This allows users to make AI creations that can interact or behave in accordance with physics without the user having to code or animate it. Luda has raised $7 million in funding in support of its AI work.

Bitkraft Ventures and Compound led the funding round, with participation from Jeff Dean (Google’s chief scientist) and Illia Polosukhin (Transformer paper co-author). Scott Rupp, partner at Bitkraft, said of Luda, “Luda’s generative AI breakthrough has the potential to transform how consumers interact with AI, and gameplay is the ideal use case. Luda isn’t just building an IP, game or platform, but developing an entirely new creative medium, one that empowers every user to truly craft AI agents through Lego-like building blocks.”

Luda’s users create their agents via Mels, a real-time browser-based simulation that animates them with generative AI. The agents also use Accelerated Learning, Low-Latency Inference and Human Interactivity. The company believes these agents are ideal for UGC gameplay, as any user can create them.

Vijay Sundaram, Luda’s founder and CEO, said in a statement, “The exciting thing about technology paradigm shifts is the chance to create fundamentally new experiences that weren’t possible before. We started researching and developing novel generative AI techniques like RT-RL five years ago in Google Research, to create a new consumer category: immersive, interactive AI agents anyone can create through an experience that’s as accessible and joyful as play – a new kind of playground bringing together human creativity,