Company’s Instinct platform uses behavioral simulation to help enterprises anticipate customers engagement within digital products and experiences before launch

SAN FRANCISCO and TOKYO, Oct. 5, 2026 /PRNewswire/ — Primitive Labs, an AI research and product company developing models of human behavior, announced today an investment from Sony Innovation Fund. The funding continues the company’s behavioral modeling research and the development of Instinct, an enterprise platform for companies to model their customers and simulate their interactions before launch.

AI has accelerated the capacity to build and operate software autonomously; however, one layer is overlooked. Primitive Labs is building an architecture for human behavior to solve this missing layer. Its research centers on building models that represent how people form goals, change beliefs, and make decisions. Under pressures like uncertainty or time, people will either persist or abandon their objectives. Primitive Labs is creating the foundation for AI systems to be able to reason human behavior, rather than simply predicting the next action.

Instinct brings this research into the product development cycle. With an organization’s user research, product analytics, and behavioral data, the platform creates simulated customer populations to navigate digital experiences. Teams across product, design, research can use the simulations to examine likely customer outcomes. Instinct helps customers de-risk critical user funnels by identifying points of abandonment, while comparing how different audiences respond, before committing to a launch or major product decision.

“The barrier to building software is dropping, but the expectations of users hasn’t changed,” said Rohit Talluri, CEO and Co-Founder of Primitive Labs. “We think understanding people should be a capability of the technology itself, something we can train and test, rather than a separate exercise trying to keep up with every release. Companies should be able to build with a model of the people they serve from the beginning.”

“As enterprises become more agentic, one of the core areas that our team has been evaluating is the customer journey,” said Atsushi Kitagawa, Managing Director-US, Sony Ventures. “Primitive Labs is taking a compelling research-driven approach to modeling human behavior, with the potential to help enterprises better anticipate how customers will respond to digital experiences. We’re excited by the opportunity ahead and believe Rohit and the team have the technical expertise and commercial experience to execute on this vision.”

Modeling How People Make Decisions

Primitive Labs is working with partners across retail, e-commerce, media and entertainment, advertising, and gaming. These engagements focus on high-value journeys such as onboarding, account creation, subscription, and checkout, including how those experiences may need to change for different customer segments or new markets.

Across their research, the company has generated hundreds of thousands of simulated behavioral trajectories across hundreds of customer populations and thousands of digital environments, creating a growing dataset used to train and improve the fidelity of its behavioral models.

Primitive Labs sees longer-term opportunities in healthcare and life sciences, financial services, travel, marketplaces, and other sectors where understanding how people make decisions is central to the customer experience.

Primitive Labs was founded in 2026 by Rohit Talluri (CEO), Jean Farmer (CTO), and Gabriel Fong (COO), who first worked together at Amazon Web Services (AWS). Talluri later worked in Amazon’s Artificial General Intelligence Autonomy Lab, supporting computer-use agent initiatives. Farmer worked in Amazon AGI and supported the Amazon Nova launches. The broader team brings professional and academic experience from Amazon, Google, Harvard, MIT, and the University of Washington.

Primitive Labs is also backed by a16z speedrun, Andreessen Horowitz’s early-stage startup program, and is a member of its SR007 cohort.

“There’s a real difference between asking AI to act like a person and building models of how people actually behave,” said Josh Lu, Investment Partner at Andreessen Horowitz for a16z speedrun. “We backed Rohit, Jean, and Gabe because they uniquely have both the AI research and commercial expertise to build a new class of behavioral models for enterprises. As building software becomes easier, we believe understanding the people you’re building for will be as essential as the code itself. Instinct is the beginning of the shift by bringing a model of the customer into the development process. It will shape how products get built and more importantly, what teams decide is worth building in the first place.”

About Primitive Labs

Primitive Labs is an AI research and product company developing models of human behavior. The company brings together the human behavior architecture with training systems to apply those models in software. Its first product, Instinct, enables enterprises to model customer populations and simulate how they interact with digital experiences before launch. Primitive Labs’ mission is to make human behavior a first-class primitive in software development. Founded in 2026 and headquartered in San Francisco, Primitive Labs is backed by a16z speedrun, Sony Innovation Fund, Olive Tree Capital, Pack Ventures, and technology leaders with backgrounds spanning OpenAI, Google DeepMind, Amazon, and Uber.

Learn more at primitivelabs.ai.

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SOURCE Primitive Labs AI Inc.

The Melanoma Research Foundation (MRF) will host its 25th Annual New York Gala on Thursday, October 15, at Guastavino’s, marking a milestone celebration of the Gala’s 25-year history and the MRF’s 30 years of advancing melanoma research, education and advocacy. The inspirational evening will bring together members of the melanoma community, philanthropists, researchers, advocates and supporters to honor those making an impact and raise critical funds to accelerate treatment innovation and progress toward a cure for a disease that affects more than 1.4 million Americans.

NEW YORK, Oct. 5, 2026 /PRNewswire-PRWeb/ — “Good Morning America” Co-Anchor and President of Rock’n Robin Productions to Emcee Milestone Event Celebrating 25 Years of the NYC Gala and 30 Years of the MRF

New York City, NY (October 5, 2026) – The Melanoma Research Foundation (MRF) will host its 25th Annual New York Gala on Thursday, October 15, at Guastavino’s, marking a milestone celebration of the Gala’s 25-year history and the MRF’s 30 years of advancing melanoma research, education and advocacy. The inspirational evening will bring together members of the melanoma community, philanthropists, researchers, advocates and supporters to honor those making an impact and raise critical funds to accelerate treatment innovation and progress toward a cure for a disease that affects more than 1.4 million Americans.

The milestone Gala is honored to welcome Robin Roberts, Co-Anchor of “Good Morning America” and President of Rock’n Robin Productions, as this year’s emcee.

With a goal of raising $1.3 million, Gala attendees, donors and sponsors will foster a legacy of hope and progress for the melanoma community. Funds raised through the event will support the MRF’s mission, including elevating prevention and awareness of melanoma, supporting all melanoma patients through educational programs, funding innovative research grants that lead to more therapeutics and novel clinical trials and advancing federal and state-level advocacy initiatives.

“For three decades, the MRF has been a committed and impactful thought leader in melanoma patient advocacy,” said Kyleigh LiPira, CEO of the Melanoma Research Foundation. “As we celebrate the 25th anniversary of our New York Gala, we are reminded of what is possible when our community comes together with a shared commitment to enabling life-saving research, education, advocacy and hope. This milestone evening is an opportunity to celebrate how far we’ve come while investing in the discoveries and breakthroughs that will ultimately benefit melanoma patients and their loved ones.”

Throughout the event, the MRF will present and honor Miguel A. Materin, MD with the CURE OM Vision of Hope Award for his commitment to fighting melanoma through exemplary patient care, cutting edge research and scientific leadership and Elta MD will be presented with the Corporate Leadership Award for their longstanding commitment to sun safety and skin health. Three courage awards will be presented to individuals whose courageous stories inspire the melanoma community including Jason Chambers, Sara Corrado and Lindsay Held. Whitney Bowe, MD, FAAD will receive the Excellence in Prevention Award for her unparalleled dedication to the prevention of melanoma, and the compassion with which she treats their patients.

Gala attendees will celebrate the melanoma community through a seated dinner, once-in-a-lifetime auction items and experiences, special presentations and an exciting Fund-a-Grant that will help enable the next groundbreaking treatment.

The MRF thanks its event co-chairs including Terry and Doug Brodman, Elyse Love, MD, FAAD and Anthony and Carly Manginelli, its auction and volunteer co-chairs and host committee. Their leadership and commitment have played an integral role in bringing the 25th Annual New York Gala to life.

To purchase a ticket, sponsorship or to make a donation, click here.

About the Melanoma Research Foundation (MRF) 

The Melanoma Research Foundation (MRF) is the largest independent organization devoted to melanoma. Committed to the support of medical research in finding effective treatments and eventually a cure for melanoma, the MRF also educates patients and physicians about prevention, diagnosis, and the treatment of melanoma and the melanoma rare subtypes. The MRF is a committed advocate for the melanoma community, helping to raise awareness of this disease and the need for a cure. The MRF’s website (www.melanoma.org) is the premier source for melanoma information seekers. Find the MRF on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and TikTok. 

Media Contact 
James Merrick 
Chief Communications and Marketing Officer 
jmerrick@melanoma.org

Media Contact

James Merrick, Melanoma Research Foundation, 1 2025793450, jmerrick@melanoma.org, melanoma.org

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SOURCE Melanoma Research Foundation

Three-year agreement applies a single set of coded data quality checks across WRHN sites as the merged organization integrates

KITCHENER, ON, Oct. 5, 2026 /CNW/ – Waterloo Regional Health Network (WRHN) has signed a three-year agreement to extend the 3terra Data Quality Assist (DQA) platform across its full network, giving Health Information Management and Decision Support teams a consistent view of coded data quality at every site.

WRHN was formed on April 1, 2025 through the merger of Grand River Hospital and St. Mary’s General Hospital. The WRHN @ Midtown site has used DQA since 2019. The new agreement extends the platform to the rest of the network, standardizing how coding accuracy and data quality are monitored across the combined organization.

Hospital mergers change coding workflows, information systems and teams, conditions that put coded data quality at risk at any organization. Because coded data drives patient-based funding and the performance reporting leadership relies on, WRHN is applying a single set of quality checks across all sites from the outset, giving its teams visibility into issues as they emerge rather than after they have reached funding or reporting.

Consistent coded data across sites also supports network-level analysis. WRHN’s Decision Support team can compare activity, monitor performance, and build reporting on the same verified foundation, without reconciling different data quality practices inherited from two organizations. DQA is used by more than 70% of Ontario hospitals funded under Health System Funding Reform (HSFR), so the checks now applied across WRHN reflect a standard already in place across the province.

“Bringing our sites onto one data quality standard is part of building one organization. Our teams shouldn’t have to reconcile two inherited approaches to know the data is right — this gives everyone at WRHN the same verified foundation from day one.” – Anh Tran, Director, Decision Support & Business Intelligence, Waterloo Regional Health Network

“A merger touches nearly every process that produces coded data. WRHN’s decision to apply one standard across the whole network means their teams can identify issues as they happen and act on them, at the point where reliable data matters most.” – Iain Robinson, CEO, 3terra

About Waterloo Regional Health Network: Waterloo Regional Health Network (WRHN, pronounced wren) represents the merger of two Hospitals into a single, integrated healthcare organization. Built on over 90 years of partnership, WRHN is home to seven regional programs and comprehensive healthcare services to meet the current and emerging needs in Waterloo-Wellington and beyond. WRHN is redefining the healthcare experience through collaboration and innovation, addressing barriers to access, advancing care delivery, and setting new standards in compassionate, empowered, community-driven healthcare. At WRHN, we provide outstanding care that’s personal, seamless, and reimagined.

About 3terra: For more than two decades, 3terra has been a trusted analytics partner to Canadian hospitals, with deep expertise in the data quality and analytical demands unique to the Canadian health system. The DQA platform is purpose-built for the realities of hospital operations, helping health information management and decision support teams ensure data accuracy, drive improvement initiatives, and equip leadership with the insights needed to act. For more information, visit www.3terra.com or contact info@3terra.com.

SOURCE 3terra