Vera AI launches ‘AI Gateway’ to help companies safely scale AI without the risks

Vera AI Inc., a startup focused on responsible artificial intelligence deployment, announced today the general availability of its AI Gateway platform. The system aims to help organizations more quickly and safely implement AI technologies by providing customizable guardrails and model routing capabilities.

“We’re really excited to be announcing the general availability of our model routing and guardrails platform,” said Liz O’Sullivan, CEO and co-founder of Vera, in an interview with VentureBeat. “We’ve been hard at work over the last year building something that could scalably and repeatably accelerate time to production for the kinds of business use cases that actually stand to generate a lot of excitement.”

Bridging the gap: How Vera’s AI gateway tackles last-mile challenges

The launch comes at a time when many companies are eager to adopt generative AI and other advanced AI technologies, but remain hesitant due to potential risks and challenges in implementing safeguards. Vera’s platform sits between users and AI models, enforcing policies and optimizing costs across different types of AI requests.

“Businesses are only ever interested in doing one of three things, whether that’s make more money, save more money, or reducing risk,” O’Sullivan explained. “We’ve focused ourselves squarely on the last mile problems, which people think, just like regular software engineering, that it’s going to be quick and easy, that these are just afterthoughts that you can apply to optimize costs or to reduce risks associated with things like disinformation and broad and CSAM, but they’re actually quite hard.”

Justin Norman, CTO and co-founder of Vera, emphasized the importance of nuance in AI policy implementation: “You want to be able to set the bar for where your system will respond and where it will not respond and what it will do, without having to rely upon what some other companies made a decision for you on.”

From AI safety activism to startup success: The minds behind Vera

The company’s approach appears to be gaining traction. According to O’Sullivan, Vera is already “processing tens of thousands of model requests per month across a handful of paying customers.” The startup offers API-based pricing at one cent per call, aligning its incentives with customer success in AI deployment. Additionally, Vera has introduced a 30-day free trial, which can be accessed using the code “FRIENDS30,” allowing potential customers to experience the platform’s capabilities firsthand.

Vera’s launch is particularly noteworthy given the founders’ backgrounds. O’Sullivan, who serves on the National AI Advisory Committee, has a history of AI safety activism, including her work at Clarifai. Norman brings experience from government, academia, and industry, including PhD work at UC Berkeley focused on AI robustness and evaluation.

Navigating the AI safety landscape: Vera’s role in responsible innovation

As AI adoption accelerates across industries, platforms like Vera’s could play a crucial role in addressing safety and ethical concerns while enabling innovation. The startup’s focus on customizable guardrails and efficient model routing positions it well to serve both enterprise clients managing internal AI use and companies developing consumer-facing AI applications.

However, Vera faces a competitive landscape with other AI safety and deployment startups also vying for market share. The company’s success will likely depend on its ability to demonstrate clear value to customers and stay ahead of rapidly evolving AI technologies and associated risks.

For organizations looking to responsibly implement AI, Vera’s launch offers a new option to consider. As O’Sullivan put it, “We’re here to make it as easy as possible to enjoy the benefits of AI while reducing the risks that things do go wrong.”