Powerset: Natural Language Search Engine hopes to redefine search

[mandy]

Powerset, is licensing PARC’s “natural language” technology — the art of making computers understand and process languages like English or French. Powerset hopes the technology will be the basis of a new search engine that allows users to type queries in plain English, rather than using keywords.

In the fall, Powerset raised $12.5 million in its first round of financing from venture-capital firms and individual investors. The challenges facing it are immense, and the odds of success are long. But the PARC technology, which is a result of 30 years of research, is certain to lend it an aura of credibility.

PARC’s natural-language technology is among the “most comprehensive in existence,” said Fernando Pereira, an expert in natural language and the chairman of the department of computer and information science at the University of Pennsylvania. But by itself, it will not guarantee Powerset’s success, Mr. Pereira said...

full article: http://www.nytimes.com/2007/02/09/techno....html?_r=2&ref=technology&oref=slogin&oref=slogin

Upstart search engine Powerset has just secured an exclusive license for natural language processing technology from Xerox's Palo Alto Research Center. It's a move that some are claiming will allow the small firm to someday challenge Google.

Steve Newcomb, one of Powerset's founders, characterizes the PARC technology as "the most sophisticated natural language technology known to man" and claims that it will give his company a major advantage over keyword-based search engines like Google...

full article: http://arstechnica.com/news.ars/post/20070209-8808.html

The Powerset website: http://www.powerset.com/
Powerset blog: http://blog.powerset.com/