Artificial intelligence company Enabled Intelligence, with a majority neurodiverse workforce, announced on Nov. 24 that it has secured the National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency’s largest data labeling contract.
The contract win marks a significant victory over Scale AI, which received a $14 billion investment from Meta (NASDAQ:META) in June, according to Bloomberg. Enabled Intelligence received the Sequoia contract, a single-award agreement with a ceiling value of up to $708 million over seven years.
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Pentagon AI Programs Gain New Data Pipeline Through Enabled Intelligence Work
The contract will support data labeling for geospatial intelligence AI and machine learning capabilities across multiple programs within the agency, including the Department of Defense and the intelligence community, Falls Church, Virginia-based Enabled Intelligence said.
Work includes supporting flagship programs applying AI and machine learning to intelligence, surveillance, and reconnaissance sensors through computer vision.
Enabled Intelligence said it will provide data labeling services enabling computer vision algorithms to perform automated object detection, object tracking, object classification, and pattern detection. The company transforms raw data into training information for mission-critical government and commercial applications, specializing in sensitive and classified datasets.
The contract also covers natural language processing, analytic models, and AI systems for business process automation. This includes Maven, the military’s primary targeting program, Bloomberg reported.
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Autism-Inclusive Hiring Model Supports Intensive Pattern Recognition For Defense Data Work
Approximately 60% of the startup’s employees are on the autism spectrum, Enabled Intelligence CEO Peter Kant told Bloomberg. The workforce has grown from 33 employees to 136 people since the company learned of the contract award two months ago.
Kant said he developed this hiring approach after reading research indicating neurodiverse individuals possess unique capabilities for focused pattern recognition work.
“Precision in support of American national security missions has been at the forefront of everything we do at Enabled Intelligence,” Kant said in the company's statement. “Our open architecture approach, combined with our rigorously trained and skilled workforce, ensures that NGA and the broader DoD and Intelligence Community have access to the precise, unbiased data labeling necessary to deploy AI capabilities at the speed and scale.”
Scale AI Misses $708 Million Contract While Defense Portfolio Remains Active
Scale AI, which became a primary vendor for Project Maven in late 2020, was competing for the same contract, Bloomberg reported. A company spokesperson acknowledged disappointment with the outcome.
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Scale AI maintains separate agreements with the U.S. Army and Pentagon valued at up to $199 million combined, and continues other defense work, the spokesperson told Bloomberg.
Former Scale AI co-founder and CEO Alexandr Wang, who has since joined Meta, wrote to President Donald Trump in January through letters and advertisements stating “America must win the AI War." Wang referenced the company’s work for the Defense Department in his appeal to the president.
Defense Partners Join Enabled Intelligence For Classified AI And Imaging Work
Enabled Intelligence said it will partner with BAE Systems, Vantor, Whiteboard Federal, and other firms on the program.
Kant had prepared extensively before the contract decision by constructing secure facilities capable of handling classified information at secret and top-secret levels, Bloomberg reported.
The work involves tracing outlines of military equipment, including aircraft, armored vehicles, naval vessels, and personnel in satellite imagery using digital tools. This creates datasets for training computer systems to identify objects independently, according to Bloomberg.
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