Cohere Unveils North: Secure AI Agent Platform for Enterprise Data
Cohere Launches North: A New Era in Secure AI Agents for Enterprises
Enterprises are eager to harness the power of AI agents to streamline daily operations, but security concerns often stand in the way. Sensitive company data, regulatory compliance, and the risk of exposing trade secrets have kept many organizations from adopting AI tools. Addressing these challenges head-on, Canadian AI company Cohere has introduced North, a new AI agent platform built with security and privacy at its core.
Private, Flexible Deployments for Maximum Security
North distinguishes itself by offering private deployment options that let businesses and government agencies keep their data behind their own firewalls. Unlike many other AI solutions that rely on third-party cloud providers, North can be installed directly on an organization’s infrastructure—whether on-premises, in hybrid clouds, within VPCs, or even in air-gapped environments.
Nick Frosst, co-founder and CEO of Cohere, emphasized the importance of this approach: "LLMs are only as good as the data they have access to. If we want LLMs to be as useful as possible, they have to access that useful data, and that means they need to be deployed in [the customer’s] environment." North is designed to be efficient, capable of running on as few as two GPUs—even on hardware that enterprises may already have on hand.
Enterprise-Grade Security & Compliance
Security is at the heart of North’s architecture. The platform supports:
- Granular access controls
- Agent autonomy policies
- Continuous red-teaming and third-party security testing
Additionally, North is built to meet international standards such as GDPR, SOC-2, and ISO 27001, ensuring compliance for customers in regulated industries.
Features Designed for Real-World Business Needs
Out of the box, North provides chat and search functionalities, enabling users to:
- Respond to customer support queries
- Summarize meeting transcripts
- Write marketing content
- Access both internal and external information sources
All outputs come with citations and reasoning chains for transparency and auditability. North’s features are powered by Cohere’s existing technologies, such as the Command family of generative AI models and Compass, its multimodal search stack. The platform is trained specifically for enterprise reasoning, going beyond simple Q&A to support asset creation like tables, documents, and presentations, and even performing market research.
Integration and Extensibility
North integrates seamlessly with major workplace tools like Gmail, Slack, Salesforce, Outlook, and Linear. It supports the Model Context Protocol (MCP), allowing access to industry-specific or proprietary applications. This flexibility enables organizations to leverage AI across their existing workflows, building trust through a gradual transition from augmentation to automation.
Trusted by Leading Enterprises
Cohere has already piloted North with high-profile customers, including RBC, Dell, LG, Ensemble Health Partners, and Palantir. The company has raised $970 million to date, reflecting strong market confidence in its secure AI vision.
Continuous Innovation
Following its acquisition of Ottogrid, a platform for automating high-level market research, Cohere continues to expand North’s capabilities, reinforcing its commitment to delivering secure, enterprise-ready AI solutions.
