Kurzweil founded Kurzweil Computer Products, Inc., and led the development of the first CCD flatbed scanner. The scanner was designed to recognize text in virtually any font, enabling optical character recognition (OCR).

He invented the Kurzweil Reading Machine, the first print-to-speech reading machine for the blind. This invention garnered significant attention and recognition, transforming accessibility for visually impaired individuals.

Kurzweil Computer Products was sold to Xerox, further expanding the reach and impact of the optical character recognition technology. Kurzweil remained a consultant for Xerox for several years.

Kurzweil founded Kurzweil Music Systems, which developed electronic musical instruments, particularly synthesizers. His goal was to create instruments that could realistically recreate the sounds of acoustic instruments.

Kurzweil Music Systems released the K250, the first electronic instrument that could accurately recreate the sound of a grand piano using sampling technology. This marked a significant advancement in music technology.

Kurzweil Music Systems was sold to Young Chang, a South Korean manufacturer of musical instruments. Kurzweil continued to be involved in the company's research and development efforts.

Kurzweil founded KurzweilAI.net (now Kurzweil Accelerating Intelligence), a website dedicated to disseminating information and fostering discussion about artificial intelligence, nanotechnology, and biotechnology.

Kurzweil joined Google as a Director of Engineering, where he focused on natural language processing and machine learning. His work aims to improve Google's ability to understand and respond to human language queries.