AI Innovation Leader Beyond Limits Appoints NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory Veteran Mark L. James as New CTO

Beyond Limits (BL), an artificial intelligence (AI) and cognitive computing company, today announced it has appointed former Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) Principal Investigator and expert AI researcher Mark L. James as its new Chief Technology Officer (CTO) & Executive Director of BL Labs. Mark will lead the company in its delivery of industrial-grade AI software, previously used in deep space exploration missions, to combine human knowledge with machine learning for companies in a wide range of industries.

“AI is a rich, multifaceted area of research that holds untold potential,” said James. “I look forward to working with the talented and dedicated team at Beyond Limits to bring agile, effective AI solutions to a broad range of commercial applications.”

Prior to joining Beyond Limits, Mark was a member of the Reasoning, Modeling, and Simulation Group in the Flight Software and Data Systems Section within NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, CA. At JPL, he was Principal Investigator and Task Manager in the work areas of artificial intelligence and opportunistic data fusion, where he helped develop and test the advanced human cognition platform that serves as the basis of Beyond Limit’s AI platform called Sherlock.

With over thirty years’ experience in the industry, Mark has created and implemented numerous ground-breaking technologies in artificial intelligence (AI), including developing technologies for high-speed inference, hypothetical scenario generation, and natural language understanding. Mark’s work has been published in numerous journals and scientific papers, and he has consistently been recognized for his contribution to the scientific community, including Space Act Awards in 2005 and 2003, Major Scientific Achievement Award in 2002, and NOVA award for Leadership in 2000. Most recently, Mark was nominated and selected as a vetted candidate for the 2016 Queen Elizabeth Prize for Engineering, similar to the Nobel Prize but for engineers.

Mark is also the author of 2 patents, 22 provisional patents, 150+ novel technology reports, 55 journal, conference, and technical papers, and 17 technical manuals. Prior to his tenure at JPL he was the Chief Scientist and Board Member of System Cognition Corporation (now Inference Corporation).  He contributed to the development of the MIT LISP Machine when it was commercialized as the LMI LISP Machine and contributed to the development of Symbolic Manipulation Program (SMP), later to become Mathematica.

With unique expertise in reasoning-based technologies and their application to planetary exploration, military systems, situational awareness, and reasoning-based network control, Mark will lead the Beyond Limits team as it adapts cutting edge AI technology developed over decades of space exploration and bring it to bear on applications across a wide range of commercial applications.

AJ Abdallat, CEO of Beyond Limits, said, “As Beyond Limits continues to provide the most cutting edge in AI solutions, we see no better person to lead our efforts than the man instrumental in the creation of the technology from which our AI is derived. Mark has helped create dynamic, flexible, and light technology that allowed unmanned exploration in space, and will likewise help the Beyond Limits team bring automated solutions to complex and challenging commercial and industrial problems here on earth.”

Launched in 2014, Beyond Limits is a leader in AI and cognitive computing and was created to commercialize cutting edge IP developed by the team after over 20 years of success supporting NASA and the space program. With technologies proven in the unknown and extreme environment of space, Beyond Limits adapts and delivers AI software capable of tackling complex industrial and enterprise challenges with the benefits of mechanical automation and human like reasoning. Beyond Limits recently announced a Series B investment with BP Ventures for $20 million.