Cross Labs

What Cross Labs does

Cross Labs is a private, for-profit AI research institute founded in 2019 and headquartered in Kyoto, Japan, with a secondary office in Tokyo. It conducts fundamental research into the mathematical and scientific bases of intelligence across six fields: Machine Intelligence, Human Intelligence, Brain Intelligence, Life Intelligence, Complex Intelligence, and Social Intelligence. The institute publishes peer-reviewed research in venues including Nature, CHI, Springer, Wiley, and arXiv, and operates the IMI Journal (Innovations in Machine Intelligence), the Cross Roads speaker series on YouTube, the On My Mind podcast (Google Podcasts, Spotify), and the inaugural Cross Labs ALife Summer School (CLASS) launched in 2025. Core technical work spans open-endedness research, theory of agency, collective learning, neuroscience of intelligence, evolutionary computation, multi-agent systems, generative AI (CLIPDraw, Stable Diffusion), and affective computing, with capabilities extending across text, image, audio, video, structured data, code, and multimodal modalities.

Cross Labs serves the academic and scientific research community rather than commercial customers. Its revenue model is grant-based, with disclosed funding from the Templeton World Charity Foundation ($230,000 over two years, 2020), GoodAI (for open-ended AI research toward the Badger architecture), and Toyota Foundation (for the Machine Love and Human Flourishing workshop). The institute is structured as a strategic operating subsidiary of Cross Compass Ltd., a Tokyo-based AI company, with founding director Olaf Witkowski serving as Director of Cross Labs and Executive Officer at Cross Compass. Strategic academic partnerships anchor its research network: University of Tokyo, ELSI (Tokyo Institute of Technology), CHAIN (Hokkaido University), Monash University, OIST, and Tokyo Institute of Technology.

Go-to-market is event- and content-driven rather than sales-driven: Cross Labs reaches its audience through academic conferences (ALIFE 2020, 2022, 2023, 2025), hosted workshops, peer-reviewed publication, podcast distribution, and speaker series. The institute does not sell commercial products or services and has no disclosed pricing model. Headcount is reported in the 11–50 range, and the leadership team (Olaf Witkowski, Alyssa Adams, Antoine Pasquali, Katsunobu Suzuki, Nicholas Guttenberg) holds over four decades of combined experience spanning artificial life, cognitive neuroscience, developmental robotics, condensed matter physics, and industrial AI.

Name

Cross Labs

Legal name

Cross Labs

Website

https://crosslabs.org

Company type

Private

Founded year

2019

Operating status

Operating

Headcount range

11–50 employees

Short description

Cross Labs is a private Kyoto-based AI research institute founded in 2019, conducting fundamental intelligence research across six fields and serving the global academic community via publications, the IMI Journal, the On My Mind podcast, and workshops. It is a strategic subsidiary of Cross Compass Ltd.

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

Product category

AI Research Institute

NAICS

Other Scientific and Technical Consulting Services (54169)

SIC

Services-Commercial Physical & Biological Research (8731)

akta.pro primary industry

Research Collaboration & Joint Labs (International Partnerships) (EDAIABAC)

Keywords

• Artificial intelligence research
• Intelligence science
• Artificial life research
• Computational neuroscience
• Open-ended evolution

Headquarters

HQ city

Kyoto

HQ country

Japan

HQ region

Asia

Offices2 records

Markets served

GTM type

B2B

Offering type

Services

Cost components

Personnel, Technology or R&D, Operations, Marketing or Sales, Infrastructure

Revenue model

1. Research Grants and Funding: Cross Labs operates primarily through research grants and institutional funding from organizations supporting fundamental AI and intelligence research, including GoodAI, Toyota Foundation, and Templeton World Charity Foundation.

Go-to-market motion1 record

Distribution channels3 records

Marketing channels5 records

Core offering

Cross Labs is a private interdisciplinary AI research institute conducting fundamental research across six fields of intelligence (machine, human, brain, life, complex, and social). It produces peer-reviewed publications through the IMI Journal, delivers the Cross Roads Speaker Series and the On My Mind podcast, runs the ALife Summer School (CLASS), and organizes academic workshops and conferences. Its work is distributed via open-access channels to the global academic and research community rather than sold as commercial software.

Product overview

Cross Labs is an AI research institute in Kyoto, Japan pursuing fundamental intelligence research across six major fields: Machine Intelligence, Human Intelligence, Brain Intelligence, Life Intelligence, Complex Intelligence, and Social Intelligence. The organization operates as a research institute rather than a product company, offering research outputs through publications, the IMI Journal, the Cross Roads Speaker Series, the On My Mind Podcast, ALife Summer School, and hosted workshops and conferences. Key research projects include Open-Endedness, Theory of Agency, Collective Learning, and Neuroscience of Intelligence, with active participation in the Artificial Life community through conferences and academic collaborations.

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Brands

• On My Mind: An almost weekly science podcast about intelligence, life, and technology, produced and hosted by Cross Labs members and community.
• IMI Journal (Innovations in Machine Intelligence)
• Cross Roads

Products and services

• Cross Labs Research Programs A research-as-a-service program of fundamental interdisciplinary intelligence science spanning six fields (Machine, Human, Brain, Life, Complex, Social Intelligence), delivered through grant-funded projects with collaborators at University of Tokyo, ELSI, CHAIN, Monash, Tokyo Tech, and OIST.
• IMI Journal (Innovations in Machine Intelligence) An international peer-reviewed, open-access journal of intelligence science covering fundamental research on natural and artificial systems including machine intelligence, computational intelligence, machine learning, NLP, cognitive processes, robotics, and biomedical engineering. Free for authors and readers; targets researchers and academic institutions.
• ALife Summer School (CLASS) An educational summer program introducing secondary school students, children, and lifelong learners to Artificial Life research, hosted by Cross Labs researchers.
• Cross Roads Speaker Series A YouTube-distributed speaker series featuring research talks by experts on emergence, neuro-AI, artificial life, machine love, consciousness, and AGI.
• On My Mind Podcast An almost-weekly science podcast about intelligence, life, and technology, produced and hosted by Cross Labs members and community, distributed on YouTube, Google Podcasts, and Spotify.
• Cross Labs Workshops and Conferences Organized academic workshops and conferences on topics including AI ethics, creativity, extended mind, and machine love, often co-hosted with academic partners (e.g., CHAIN at Hokkaido University).

Quantifiable outcome

• Aizuchi-bot creators received Honorable Mention at CHI 2024 conference
• +2 more outcomes

Segments1 record

Ideal customer profiles2 records

Technology focussed Yes

API detail

Has API

No

API docs

API detail

Core technology

AI maturity

App detail

AI capability14 records

Feature6 records

Partnerships

Seven partnerships are on record, tiered core.

• University of TokyocoreStrategic or Co-development PartnerAcademic partnership with one of Japan's premier universities. Cross Labs founding director Olaf Witkowski serves as External Faculty at the University of Tokyo. Active collaboration in fundamental intelligence research and artificial life studies.
• Earth-Life Science Institute (ELSI), Tokyo Institute of TechnologycoreStrategic or Co-development PartnerPartnership with ELSI at Tokyo Institute of Technology for research on the origins and nature of life, bridging artificial life research with Earth-life science.
• Center for Human Nature, Artificial Intelligence, and Neuroscience (CHAIN), Hokkaido UniversitycoreStrategic or Co-development PartnerCollaboration with CHAIN at Hokkaido University focusing on consciousness, AI, and neuroscience research. Joint workshops including 'Machine Love and Human Flourishing 2023'.
• Monash UniversitycoreStrategic or Co-development PartnerAcademic partnership with Monash University in Australia for intelligence research and collaboration on complex systems and AI.
• Tokyo Institute of TechnologycoreStrategic or Co-development PartnerPartnership with Tokyo Institute of Technology where Olaf Witkowski serves as External Faculty, collaborating on artificial life and intelligence science research.
• OIST (Okinawa Institute of Science and Technology)coreStrategic or Co-development PartnerPartnership with OIST for advanced research collaboration in life sciences and intelligence research.
• Cross Compass Ltd.coreStrategic or Co-development PartnerRelated entity in Tokyo focused on AI technology. Cross Labs founding director Olaf Witkowski serves as Board Director and Executive Officer at Cross Compass, bridging research and commercial AI applications.

Scale indicators2 records

Recent moves6 records

Expansion highlights5 records

Direct peers

• GoodAI: AI research lab focused on general AI and open-ended learning, with an active grants program that has directly funded Cross Labs research. Shares the focus on open-endedness and AGI-oriented fundamental research.
• Okinawa Institute of Science and Technology (OIST): Cross Labs' existing strategic partner and Japanese research university with strong interdisciplinary AI and life science research. Comparable as a Japanese, internationally-oriented fundamental research institution.
• Center for the Study of Apparent Selves: Cross Labs-affiliated research center (co-founded by Olaf Witkowski) that received the Templeton $230K grant for Buddhism & AI research. Closely related entity exploring interdisciplinary intelligence and consciousness topics.

Broad incumbents

• Allen Institute for AI (AI2): Established non-profit AI research institute conducting fundamental and applied AI research with a strong academic publication track record. Operates at much greater scale with similar mission orientation toward high-impact, open AI research.
• Mila (Quebec AI Institute): World-leading academic AI research institute with deep university partnerships and large research community. Highly comparable as a fundamental research organization with strong international academic collaboration and educational programs.
• DeepMind: Elite AI research organization conducting fundamental research across machine learning, neuroscience, and multi-agent systems. Operates at vastly greater scale but pursues adjacent research themes including collective intelligence and open-ended learning.
• Anthropic: AI safety and fundamental research company that shares Cross Labs' interest in understanding intelligence at a foundational level, including interpretability, agency, and the philosophical dimensions of AI systems.
• Toyota Research Institute: Industry-backed research institute connected to Cross Labs via Toyota Foundation funding. Conducts fundamental and applied AI research with a focus on robotics, machine learning, and human-AI interaction.

Emerging players

• Future of Life Institute: Non-profit organization focused on AI safety, ethics, and beneficial AI development. Shares Cross Labs' focus on ethical, compassionate AI and receives funding from similar philanthropic sources (Templeton-adjacent ecosystems).

Regional players

• RIKEN Center for Advanced Intelligence Project (AIP): Japan-based national research institute focused on fundamental and applied AI research. Highly comparable as a Japanese AI research organization, sharing the same geographic and academic ecosystem as Cross Labs.

Market position

Strengths4 records

Weaknesses4 records

Competitive moat3 records

Key risks6 records

Key highlights7 records

Customer concentration

• YouTubeyoutube.com/playlist?list=PLODRPaSTLJCeDbLrnbfvX_rMgPrJwCu6t
• Xx.com/crosslabstokyo
• Facebookfacebook.com/aicrosslabs

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Number of profiles

Profiles5 records

Subsidiaries1 record

Funding overview

Funding rounds

Investors

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M&A

Investments

M&A and investment is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

Frequently asked questions about Cross Labs