- Published on
Former Meta AI Director Rohit Patel Leaves to Build AI-Native Rival to Office and Workspace
- Authors
- Name
- DeepHorus
Rohit Patel, a former director at Meta Superintelligence Labs, is leaving after eight years to found Ndoc. The startup aims to replace Microsoft Office and Google Workspace with an AI-native workspace. Patel joins other recent Meta departures including Joel Kaplan, Andrew Tulloch and Emily Dalton Smith.
Ndoc combines three tabs in one layout: Stage for slide decks, dashboards and mini apps; Narrative for analysis and citations; and Model for datasets and Python scripts. The design lets users move from data to explanation to presentation in one place. Patel said the platform keeps memory across individuals, documents, teams and companies.
Drawing on his work in reinforcement learning and AI trustworthiness, Patel said users should verify AI-generated work. They can ask the AI to explain any script or formula. Ndoc runs on fine-tuned open-source models, which Patel says makes it cheaper to operate.
Patel plans to open-source a portable .ndoc.html file format. He partly attributed his departure to wanting to move at the pace of AI rather than seek consensus from hundreds of people. The format could make documents more portable and reduce vendor dependence.
Patel argued that rivals, including OpenAI with its new Space workspace, are simply bolting AI onto spreadsheets. Ndoc instead treats AI as the foundation of the workspace. The startup is running an enterprise pilot and a limited alpha.
A beta is expected within weeks and a full release next year. Ndoc currently has a three-person team and no funding. Its early progress will test whether an AI-native workspace can challenge entrenched productivity suites.
