Scale's former CTO tackles enterprise data access with governance-first AI agent
Isotopes AI's $20M debut represents the first serious attempt to build responsible data democratization into product architecture from day one, treating governance as a feature rather than afterthought.
Scale AI's former CTO just validated something legal teams have been wrestling with for years: data access governance breaks down when companies hit enterprise size. Arun Murthy's new company, Isotopes AI, has raised $20 million to address what he calls the "embarrassing" reality that executives struggle to answer basic business questions because they lack access to their own data.
The infrastructure exists, but the operational bridges don't. Isotopes' agent, Aidnn, takes a different angle—treating data governance as a core product requirement rather than something bolted on later.
The emphasis on enterprise deployment without external data sharing caught my attention. When your AI agent can draft complex planning documents by pulling from finance apps, ERP systems, and cloud storage, keeping that process internal matters for both IP protection and regulatory compliance.
The more pressing question is whether teams will trust these answers enough to make informed decisions based on them. Sophistication doesn't matter if legal and business stakeholders can't verify the agent's work. However, if Isotopes gets the transparency piece right, this could become the template for enterprise AI that operates in real-world environments.
Julie Bort
