Having been an REI member through my entire adulthood, after shopping there with my family as long as I can remember, it's bizarre to see the name reused for so

Having been an REI member through my entire adulthood, after shopping there with my family as long as I can remember, it's bizarre to see the name reused for some AI project. I wonder why this organization chose such a jarring name for themselves, but I can't find any "about" page or the like which would explain the choice, or really anything else about them. Is this site meant to be cryptic?