Meta AI director Rohit Patel leaves to take on Microsoft Office and Google Workspace
After eight years at Meta, AI director Rohit Patel has left to launch Ndoc, a startup aiming to bring office work into one AI-native workspace. The move matters because Ndoc is designed to compete with Microsoft Office and Google Workspace by combining analysis, documents and presentations while making the AI’s work easier to inspect.
Ndoc has three connected areas: Stage for presentations and dashboards, Narrative for analysis and explanations, and Model for datasets and Python scripts. Users can upload data, request analysis and add context such as audience and tone; Patel says the system remembers information about the user, document, team and company. It uses a mix of open-source models, and Patel plans to open-source its browser-readable “.ndoc.html” file format.
In short
- Rohit Patel has left Meta after eight years.
- His startup Ndoc aims to unify AI-powered office work.
- Its planned open file format is designed to be inspectable and shareable.
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The case for
Ndoc could make office work more coherent by bringing data, analysis and presentations into one workspace, while making the AI’s reasoning and outputs easier to inspect. A system that retains relevant context about a person, team and company could reduce repetitive setup and help people produce useful work more quickly; an open, browser-readable file format could also make documents easier to share and adapt.
The case against
Combining sensitive data, company context and AI-generated analysis in one workspace could create privacy, security and governance concerns, particularly if users cannot readily control what the system remembers or how it uses that information. The promised transparency and open format may help, but they do not by themselves ensure that analyses are accurate, inspectable in practice or compatible with organisations’ existing tools and workflows.
Explained simply
Microsoft Office and Google Workspace are suites of tools for creating documents, presentations and spreadsheets, used by individuals and organisations. Newer AI tools can help analyse information and draft content, but their work may be difficult to check or trace back to its sources.
Rohit Patel is a technology executive who spent eight years at Meta, where he led AI work. He has now founded Ndoc, a company developing a workspace that links data analysis with written explanations and presentations.
Ndoc’s approach reflects a broader effort to make AI useful across everyday office tasks, while letting people inspect how results were produced. Its plans to use several AI models and publish a file format are relevant to how the product may work with other tools and how users can review its contents.
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