Itamar Arel
Itamar Arel
Computer Scientist - Machine Intelligence and Conversational AI
Computer Scientist - Machine Intelligence and Conversational AI
Itamar Arel is a computer scientist, entrepreneur, and technology executive focused on machine intelligence and conversational AI. His career integrates academic research with real-world applications of artificial intelligence across financial analytics and voice-based customer interactions. He has co-founded multiple startups, including Binatix Labs, Apprente, and Tenyx, and led Apprente’s acquisition by McDonald’s and Tenyx’s acquisition by Salesforce. His work reflects a consistent commitment to advancing practical AI systems within enterprise environments.
Dr. Itamar Arel, Ph.D., M.B.A., earned his B.Sc., M.Sc., and Ph.D. in Electrical and Computer Engineering from Ben Gurion University of the Negev. He also completed an M.B.A. at the same institution. His academic training combined engineering research with business management education, creating a foundation for long-term contributions to machine learning, reinforcement learning, and enterprise AI systems. This combination of technical and managerial expertise has shaped his approach to both research and innovation.
Arel was born and raised in Israel and pursued his studies in electrical and computer engineering at Ben Gurion University of the Negev. He earned a Bachelor of Science in 1995 and immediately pursued a Master of Science, completing it in 1998 under the supervision of Professor Dan Sadot.
He further expanded his academic focus by completing a Master of Business Administration in 2002 at Ben Gurion University’s Business School. In 2003, he earned his Ph.D. in Electrical and Computer Engineering, again under Professor Sadot. During his doctoral studies, he was awarded the 1999 Intel Scholarship for Excellence in Doctoral Studies for his early work in machine intelligence and high-performance computing.
Itamar also served as a research assistant in the Optical Communication Laboratory at Ben Gurion University during his graduate studies. This experience provided practical exposure to engineering research and strengthened his technical capabilities.
In addition to his academic responsibilities, he served as an engineering officer on active duty in the Israel Defense Forces from 1995 to 2000. This period contributed to his disciplined approach to leadership and to complex technical problem-solving.
Arel moved to the United States in 2003 to join the University of Tennessee, Knoxville, as an assistant professor in the Department of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science. He advanced through the academic ranks, earned tenure, and became a full professor by 2009.
At the university, he founded and directed the Machine Intelligence Lab. His research focused on machine learning and reinforcement learning, emphasizing scalable computational architectures and intelligent decision-making systems.
Itamar expanded his academic collaboration between January 2014 and July 2015, when he served as a visiting associate professor in the Computer Science Department at Stanford University during a sabbatical from Tennessee. During this time, he worked with faculty and graduate students on machine intelligence research initiatives.
He also secured multiple patents and competitive research funding. In 2004, he received the U.S. Department of Energy CAREER Award for Young Investigators, recognizing his potential to advance computational science. His research contributions included early work in high-speed traffic simulation and reinforcement learning architectures.
Arel demonstrated entrepreneurial initiative alongside his academic work. In February 2000, while completing his Ph.D., he became a co-founder and Chief Scientist at TeraCross, Inc., based in Campbell, California. He contributed to the development of telecommunications and networking systems.
From 2008 to 2015, he co-founded and served as Chief Technology Officer at Binatix Labs in Palo Alto, California. The company applied proprietary machine learning techniques to financial data analytics, addressing challenges such as market prediction, risk analysis, and automated decision-making.
Itamar played a key role in aligning research-driven machine learning methods with the operational needs of financial markets. His leadership supported the development of systems capable of processing complex data sets for practical analysis.
Arel founded Apprente in June 2017 to develop conversational AI systems to automate customer interactions in real-world environments. The company created voice technology platforms tailored to operational settings.
Its solutions are specialized in deep learning, natural language understanding, and reinforcement learning to enable voice-based order-taking and other service functions within the food and service industries.
Itamar guided Apprente through its acquisition by McDonald’s Corporation in October 2019. After the acquisition, he became Corporate Vice President within McD Tech Labs, where he oversaw the deployment of applied voice AI systems across McDonald’s operations as part of digital transformation efforts.
Arel continued his entrepreneurial work by co-founding Tenyx, Inc. in April 2022 and serving as its CEO. The company focused on AI-driven voice agents for customer service, combining advanced machine learning architectures with operational insight.
In September 2024, Salesforce announced and completed its acquisition of Tenyx. Following the acquisition, he joined Salesforce as Vice President of Voice AI Solutions, contributing to the company’s enterprise strategy for conversational AI technologies.
Before joining Salesforce full-time, Itamar briefly served as a strategic advisor to IBM Watson Orders in Mountain View, California, from January to March 2022. In this role, he provided guidance on integrating artificial intelligence solutions into enterprise order management systems.
He led Apprente's acquisition by McDonald’s and Tenyx's acquisition by Salesforce.
Arel has maintained an active presence in research and innovation throughout his career. His patents include hierarchical machine learning systems for lifelong learning, confidence-based reinforcement learning, and conversational pipelines trained with synthetic data.
He has also participated in major research initiatives, including DARPA’s UPSIDE program, which explored neuromorphic computing as a platform for deep machine learning applications. His work consistently connects foundational AI research with practical system development.
Itamar has received recognition in both academic and industry environments. The 1999 Intel Scholarship for Excellence in Doctoral Studies and the 2004 U.S. Department of Energy CAREER Award acknowledged his research contributions and potential as a young investigator.
Throughout his career, Itamar Arel has combined academic scholarship, startup leadership, and executive roles in the field of artificial intelligence. He holds senior memberships in IEEE, ACM, AAAI, and the BICA Society. His work continues to advance machine intelligence and conversational AI across research institutions and global enterprises.
Learn more: https://blogs.timesofisrael.com/when-the-far-left-and-far-right-meet-over-the-jews