Peter Kant, CEO of Enabled Intelligence, announced plans to open a new office in St. Louis citing the anticipated growth connected to the National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency campus on the North Side. The decision aligns with the company's growth strategy and commitment to expanding their presence in key locations. Kant expressed excitement about the opportunities this move will bring for Enabled Intelligence and its employees. The company aims to leverage the potential of the NGA campus to drive innovation and collaboration within the geospatial intelligence sector.
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ST. LOUIS — A Washington, D.C., startup is looking to hire local neurodivergent workers as it opens an office downtown, attracted to St. Louis by the promised growth of the National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency campus.
Founded in 2020, Enabled Intelligence is a data-labeling and AI innovation company that works with sensitive and classified government data sets. The company's CEO Peter Kant mentioned that due to the nature of the work they do, they have observed that neurodivergent individuals are often the best fit for the job.
A significant aspect of Enabled Intelligence's work involves identifying and labeling objects in photos, like determining the number of jets in an aerial image. Kant explained that neurodivergent workers excel in this type of work due to their abilities in pattern recognition, puzzle-solving, and maintaining deep focus. This work is crucial for training artificial intelligence programs, Kant added.
"Most AI are trying to mimic human thought to a degree ... and all human thought is not just Stanford engineers, software engineers," Kant said. "Neurodiversity in its true nature is diversity of thought, diversity of thought process, so if we can recreate that with our labelers that means that we’re creating much stronger training data to create more reliable and resilient and helpful AI."
The company is currently recruiting for its new office through local universities, high schools, and nonprofits. Enabled Intelligence attended a career fair at Harris-Stowe State University last fall and expressed confidence in the talent pool available in the area.
Job candidates typically undergo an online practice data-labeling assessment and participate in Enabled Intelligence’s geospatial data-labeling boot camps. The company plans to create approximately 50 jobs in St. Louis.
Enabled Intelligence's St. Louis operations will be housed at T-Rex, an innovation and entrepreneur development center on Washington Avenue in downtown. Kant emphasized the company's commitment to supporting its workers by providing a flexible work environment that caters to individual needs.
He compared this approach to athletes needing specific gear or nutrition to perform at their best. "We don’t call that an accommodation," Kant explained. "The whole company is built to support the neurodiverse community."
Enabled Intelligence is set to host its first area boot camp out of the T-Rex office next month, as part of its efforts to expand its operations in St. Louis.