Cognitiv Founders on AI Power List, Validating Decade-Long Vision

NEW YORK, NY – March 03, 2026 – Cognitiv co-founders, CEO Jeremy Fain and Chief Science Officer Dr. Aaron Andalman, have been named to the prestigious ADWEEK AI Power 50 list, a recognition of their role as influential architects of artificial intelligence's future in advertising. The honor arrives as the company marks its strongest year, driven by the explosive growth of its flagship ContextGPT platform, validating a deep learning strategy set in motion nearly a decade ago, long before AI became a ubiquitous industry buzzword.

The inclusion on the list highlights a journey that began in 2015, when Fain and Andalman founded Cognitiv on the conviction that self-organizing deep learning algorithms—not the static, rules-based systems then common in adtech—were the key to unlocking true performance. This early bet now appears prescient, as the industry scrambles to adapt to an AI-driven, privacy-first landscape that Cognitiv was built to navigate from day one.

Architects of the AI Ad Revolution

“Vision is often talked about in hindsight. What sets Cognitiv apart is that its co-founders recognized where AI was headed, and built that future early,” noted Michael Kassan, Founder and CEO of 3C Ventures. Kassan, who joined Cognitiv’s board in 2025, emphasized their foundational work, stating, “Long before most of the market began talking seriously about AI, they were investing in the infrastructure, and the science required to fundamentally reshape advertising performance through deep learning.”

This deliberate, science-first approach is embodied by the company's two leaders. Jeremy Fain brought over 20 years of adtech, publisher, and agency experience to the venture. An electrical engineering graduate from Yale with an MBA from Columbia, Fain was instrumental in shaping industry standards at the IAB and co-founded Triggit, an early real-time bidding platform later acquired by Facebook. His deep industry knowledge was paired with a clear vision: to move beyond ineffectual targeting tools and build a new category of AI-powered performance marketing.

Complementing Fain’s industry acumen is Dr. Aaron Andalman’s profound scientific rigor. A computational neuroscientist with a PhD from MIT and a background in computer science from Stanford, Dr. Andalman is the architect of Cognitiv’s proprietary deep learning platform. He has instilled a science-first culture where nearly half of all employees work in science and engineering roles. His background, which includes award-winning research on learning and memory in biological neural systems, provides a unique perspective on building artificial neural networks that can understand nuance and context in a way that traditional machine learning cannot.

Beyond the Buzzword: Deep Learning in Practice

The most tangible result of this fusion of business and science is ContextGPT, the industry’s first interactive, chat-based contextual targeting platform. The platform has seen staggering 388% growth, a testament to its effectiveness in a market grappling with the end of third-party cookies. Unlike older systems that rely on simple keyword matching, ContextGPT allows media planners to describe their target audience and campaign goals in natural language. The platform’s advanced reasoning models, which combine OpenAI’s technology with Cognitiv's own proprietary deep learning, then interpret the user's intent and recommend optimal, brand-safe digital environments for engagement.

The system is designed for a privacy-centric world, delivering superior performance without using cookies, pixels, or personal user IDs. This has translated into significant, measurable gains for clients. In 2025, Cognitiv saw a 67% year-over-year increase in new clients and a 29% improvement in average return on ad spend for customers in the latter half of the year. A major 2025 upgrade to the platform, which introduced Interactive Audience Exploration and a next-generation Relevance Engine, delivered up to a 40% improvement in contextual campaign performance.

Dr. Andalman has been a vocal advocate for transparency and scientific substance, criticizing vendors who use “AI” as a branding exercise without the underlying technology. Cognitiv’s results serve as a powerful counterargument, demonstrating how genuine deep learning can move beyond static segmentation and optimize campaigns in milliseconds against live signals, delivering real-world results at scale.

From Ad Campaigns to Uplifting News

While Cognitiv’s primary mission is to bring intelligence to advertising, Fain’s vision for AI’s potential extends beyond commercial applications. This broader perspective is manifest in ‘More Positiv,’ an initiative Fain created to apply Cognitiv’s powerful technology for social good. More Positiv uses the same deep learning and sentiment analysis capabilities that power its advertising platform to scan thousands of news articles across the internet each day, identifying and surfacing the most uplifting and inspiring stories.

Inspired by Cognitiv’s unique ability to score sentiment at scale, Fain saw an opportunity to create a counterbalance to the often-negative news cycle. The platform offers a “Positiv News Pulse,” an AI tool that tracks real-time sentiment in news coverage, and distributes a free weekly newsletter containing only positive stories of human triumph and innovation. This project showcases the dual-use potential of sophisticated AI, demonstrating how technology built for commercial optimization can be repurposed to enhance societal well-being.

As Cognitiv continues to expand its client base and refine its technology, its leadership’s recognition by ADWEEK serves as a milestone. It validates a long-term strategy and a commitment to deep science over fleeting trends. This dual approach, blending commercial dominance with a mission for social good, suggests that for pioneers like Cognitiv, the full potential of artificial intelligence is only just beginning to be explored.