AI · Analytics · Immersive Learning · Since 2005

Training, reimagined as experience.

Aten Inc designs AI-driven, immersive simulations that transform how Fortune 500 teams hire, train, and retain. Personalized. Performance-based. Measured in real time.

2005
Founded in Research
Triangle Park, NC
90%
Knowledge retention
via simulation
35–70%
Reduction in hire,
train & ramp-up cost
F500
Enterprise clients
across industries
Watch · Talks & demos

See Aten in action.

Featured talks, fireside chats, and product demos — from AI India Impact 2026 in New Delhi to the European Airline Training Symposium in Madrid 2018. Tap a tile to play.

AI India Impact Summit 2026
Fireside Chat · New Delhi

AI India Impact Summit 2026

17 February 2026 · Bharat Mandapam
EATS 2018 Madrid talk
EATS 2018 · Madrid

An end to 18th-century pedagogy?

07 November 2018 · CEO Thomas Vaidhyan
AI & ML driving immersive learning
Demo · AI & ML

AI & ML driving virtual immersive VR/AR/MR

Personalized learning · Aten platform
On-the-job training demo
Demo · Aviation

Training, on-the-job & ongoing learning

Pilot training · adaptive scenarios
Gov. Perdue Roundtable
Roundtable · Raleigh, NC

Gov. Perdue on Public Education

14 April 2011 · NCBCE

Scroll → to see more

The premise

We remember 10% of what we read.
90% of what we do — even as a simulation.

Federation of American Scientists / ESA / NSF Summit on Educational Games, 2005.
Reinforced by Annetta (2007), Evans (2008), Dede (2004).

01 — What we build

Three practices, one outcome.

People who can actually do the job from day one — measured continuously, coached individually, and scaled globally.

↳ 01

Immersive simulations & serious games

VR, AR, and MR experiences modeled on the actual job, designed with evidence-centered methodology and reviewed by subject-matter experts.

↳ 02

AI & predictive analytics

Models that observe behavior, surface skill gaps, and adapt the next moment of learning to the individual — not the cohort.

↳ 03

Personalized virtual mentoring

A coach inside the experience. Continuous, individualized feedback that scales without scaling headcount.

02 — Our approach

An end to 18th-century pedagogy.

Most corporate training is still a slide deck and a multiple-choice quiz. We replaced both.

Traditional

Lecture & recall.

  • Instructor-led, theory-heavy
  • Low retention, slower comprehension
  • Identical for every learner
  • Multiple choice — content, not action
  • Assessment separated from training
  • Occasional, disconnected data
  • Doesn't scale, can't replay
The Aten approach

Practice & mastery.

  • Personal coach for every learner
  • Experiential, modeled on the actual job
  • 100% application from day one
  • Performance-based, measures know-how
  • Embedded, stealth assessment throughout
  • Continuous, longitudinal, AI-analyzed
  • Repeatable, scalable, reliably objective
The 9 pillars

What every Aten engagement is built on.

↳ 01 Immersive & interactive VR / AR simulations

Modeled on the actual job, not a slide deck. Branching, constraint, and consequence designed to elicit real behavior.

↳ 02 Evidence-centered design

Every scenario traces to a measurable competency, validated by SMEs and grounded in NSF / ESA / FAS research.

↳ 03 Experiential & situational

Learners apply knowledge under realistic constraints from day one — no cohort lectures, no theoretical primer.

↳ 04 Formative feedback

In-experience coaching at the moment of decision. Feedback is continuous, individualized, and tied to the specific action just taken.

↳ 05 Personalization

Difficulty, pathing, and reinforcement adapt to the individual learner. The cohort moves at its own pace; the learner moves at theirs.

↳ 06 Performance-based assessments

We measure what learners do, not what they recognize. Action under realistic pressure replaces the multiple-choice quiz.

↳ 07 Stealth assessments

Measurement is embedded in the experience itself — invisible to the learner, continuous for the operator. No more "test mode" anxiety.

↳ 08 Gamification

Mastery loops, progression, and meaningful stakes. Engagement isn't a poster on a wall — it's structurally built into the simulation.

↳ 09 AI & predictive data analysis

Longitudinal data feeds AI/ML models that surface skill gaps, predict performance, and reshape the next moment of learning.

03 — How we work

From discovery to deployment.

Every Aten engagement follows the same evidence-centered methodology — refined across 28+ Fortune 500 deployments since 2005.

↳ Phase 01

Listen & discover

We sit with your operators — pilots, technicians, analysts, surgeons — until we know the job better than the org chart does. Real edge cases, real friction, real consequences.

↳ Phase 02

Design with evidence

Evidence-centered design grounded in research from NSF, ESA, and the Federation of American Scientists. Every scenario maps to a measurable competency, validated by your SMEs.

↳ Phase 03

Build immersive

VR, AR, and MR simulations modeled on the actual job. Branching, constraint, and consequence are designed to elicit the behavior — not test the trivia.

↳ Phase 04

Measure & iterate

Embedded stealth assessment captures know-how during the simulation. Longitudinal data informs the AI model, and the model adapts the next moment of learning.

04 — Selected work

Built for Fortune 500 teams.

From pilot training and biotech equipment to financial onboarding and Schneider's switchgear — real simulations, real outcomes, across two decades.

05 — Recognition

Two decades of vetted work.

100% of our growth since 2005 has come through word of mouth.

2025
Keynote · Workforce Development, SEMICON India
India Semiconductor Mission
2017
Key player · World Serious Game Market Forecast 2017–2023
Industry Report
2015
Centennial Competition Semifinalist
National Board of Medical Examiners
2012
Internal Award for Excellence in Innovation
JPMorgan Chase
2011
Next Generation Learning Challenge Finalist
Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation
2010
Digital & Learning Media Competition Finalist
MacArthur Foundation
A client
“Thomas Vaidhyan and his team at Aten worked with us as a strategic partner and helped convert this idea into a virtual reality. The product, which we christened ‘Lateral,’ was very well received and won the prize for Innovation in a prestigious internal competition at JPMorgan Chase.”
Ajith Sundaresh Former MD, Head of Global Finance India · JPMorgan Chase

Calculate the cost of not innovating.

For a typical enterprise, delaying the move to AI-driven personalized training costs millions per year. Run the numbers — or just talk to us.