Cohere has signed a letter of intent to buy cybersecurity startup Aisle, in a deal that would give the Canadian AI developer technology that finds and helps fix software vulnerabilities. 

The proposed acquisition would strengthen the security of AI products for government and business customers in regulated industries, Cohere said in a release Thursday, including those running the technology on their own computing infrastructure or in systems disconnected from the internet. It did not disclose financial terms. 

The deal would add cybersecurity capabilities to Cohere’s AI models and software, which it markets to organizations seeking control over their data and computing infrastructure. Cohere has positioned itself as an alternative for customers concerned about relying on U.S. technology giants or Chinese AI developers.

Aisle, which has offices in San Francisco and Prague, uses AI to discover previously unknown security flaws, check its findings and help develop fixes. The company was founded in 2025 by Ondrej ​Vlcek, former CEO ​of Czech ⁠antivirus maker Avast, and co-founders Stanislav Fort and Jaya Baloo. 

Vlcek would join a new unit called Cohere Cyber as senior vice-president, focused on selling cybersecurity tools to customers, Aisle said in an announcement Thursday. The startup’s Prague headquarters would become a Cohere office once the acquisition closes. 

Baloo would become Cohere’s global chief information security officer, and Fort—who previously worked at both Anthropic and Google DeepMind, would lead AI security research and work with Cohere chief technology officer Ivan Zhang to incorporate that research into model development and training. 

The acquisition would further expand Cohere’s European presence following its agreement in September to combine with German counterpart Aleph Alpha. That company sells AI software to government and business customers to build chatbots and AI applications. In May, Cohere also acquired Reliant AI, a company with operations in Montreal and Berlin whose software helps pharmaceutical companies analyze scientific research and regulatory documents. 

The string of deals could help Cohere catch up to its competitors in some respects. CEO Aidan Gomez has acknowledged that its models trail those of OpenAI and Anthropic, particularly in coding and cybersecurity. “There’s a gap today, and we want to work to close that,” he told The Logic in September, pointing to applications critical to national security and economic defence.