Monday, 22 September, 2025
Silicon Valley Invests Heavily in Reinforcement Learning “Environments”

Silicon Valley’s AI labs are increasingly using reinforcement learning (RL) environments—simulated, interactive spaces where AI agents can learn multi-step and tool-enabled tasks—to train more robust, general-purpose agents. Startups like Mechanize and Prime Intellect are racing to build these environments, while data-labelling firms like Surge and Mercor also pivot to keep up. Despite high cost and complexity, investors view RL environments as a promising frontier for AI development.
Read full story at TechCrunch