Simile Bets Big on Behavior Forecasting AI

Simile has raised $100 million to build AI tools that predict human behavior, including what consumers may buy and the questions analysts may ask on earnings calls. The funding follows the company’s emergence from stealth after months of work on a model trained on hundreds of in-depth interviews about people’s lives, paired with historic transaction data and scientific journal text on behavioral experiments. Simile says it runs simulations filled with AI agents meant to mirror real individuals’ preferences, offering businesses an alternative to focus groups. CVS has tested the service to help decide which products to stock and how to display them.