Established in 2018, Zapata AI is a Veteran-Owned Small Business (VOSB) headquartered in Augusta, Georgia. We deliver tactical-edge artificial intelligence and machine learning to the Department of Defense, the Intelligence Community, and allied mission partners. Our work centers on a specific engineering problem: making modern AI useful to the operator at the point of decision, on the hardware they actually carry, under the link and power constraints they actually face.
What we do
We build AI/ML capability for three mission areas where commercial AI does not translate cleanly to defense operations: tactical-edge inference on Nvidia GPU hardware, multi-intelligence data fusion across SIGINT/GEOINT/OSINT/full-motion video, and mission-specific models for workflows like CBRNE response, signals exploitation, and site exploitation. Our flagship platform, ANIMAS (Artificial Neural-Intelligence Modular Analytics System), packages all three into a ruggedized, reconfigurable-in-the-field deployment.
Why Zapata AI
Non-Traditional Defense Contractor. Zapata AI is an NTDC as defined in 10 U.S.C. § 3014 — no prior or existing government cost-reimbursement contracts. That status lets program offices engage us through Other Transaction Authorities, SBIR/STTR, and commercial-item pathways without the friction of a traditional prime-contractor posture. It keeps us fast and commercial-first.
Augusta, Georgia — adjacent to the mission. Our engineering team sits in downtown Augusta, inside the Georgia Cyber Innovation & Training Center ecosystem and adjacent to Fort Eisenhower (formerly Fort Gordon). That proximity to the cyber and signals communities we support isn’t a branding choice — it’s how we stay close to the tempo of the work.
Veteran-owned, operator-informed. Our team includes prior-service subject matter experts who have lived the decision loops we’re trying to compress. We don’t ship AI that ignores what happens when a link drops, a battery runs low, or an analyst has thirty seconds instead of thirty minutes.
Backed by Zapata Technology. We are affiliated with Zapata Technology, an Augusta-based technology services firm founded in 2007. That relationship gives us shared infrastructure, cleared-personnel capacity, and back-office support so our engineers focus on AI/ML delivery.
Capabilities
- Tactical-edge AI — inference on Jetson- and DGX-form-factor hardware; models sized to the actual power and thermal envelope of the platform.
- Multi-intelligence fusion — entity resolution and natural-language query across SIGINT, GEOINT, OSINT, FMV, and structured operational feeds, with classification markings and provenance preserved end to end.
- CBRNE response AI — sensor fusion, playbook selection, and human-on-the-loop decision support for CBRNE response workflows.
Who we serve
Zapata AI supports the Department of Defense and Intelligence Community — including special operations, signals intelligence, cyber, and CBRNE response elements — along with allied mission partners. We do not publicly list classified or sensitive engagements. For a capability briefing, reach our Augusta team.
Key challenges we address
- Reducing analyst cognitive burden and sharpening cognitive dominance.
- Allocating scarce cyber-domain resources effectively.
- Level-appropriate data redaction for cross-classification sharing.
- Surfacing non-obvious network connections for human review.
- Offloading tedious collection, correlation, and research to AI/ML.
- Keeping the human decision-maker in the loop — augmented intelligence, not autonomous intelligence.
- Self-guided operator training to minimize on-site support staff.
Engage
For capability briefings, teaming, subcontracting, or media inquiries, use the Contact page. Our UEI is GFZKSR92ELT6 and our CAGE code is 84JL2. We are registered on SAM.gov and can be engaged via OTA, SBIR/STTR, GSA schedule (through Zapata Technology where applicable), or subcontract.
Not affiliated with Zapata Computing Holdings Inc. (Nasdaq: ZPTA), the Boston-based quantum/industrial-AI company that ceased operations in 2024. See our About page for details.