Flower Labs, a Y Combinator-backed startup, on Tuesday launched a preview of its distributed cloud platform for serving AI fashions, referred to as Flower Intelligence. Mozilla is already utilizing it to energy the upcoming Assist summarization add-on for its Thunderbird e mail consumer.
What makes Flower Intelligence distinctive, Flower Labs said in a post on X, is that it will probably drive on-device AI cellular, PC, and internet apps that robotically hand off to a non-public cloud when wanted (with a consumer’s permission). Apps default to an AI mannequin working regionally for pace and privateness however swap to Flower’s cloud after they require further computational oomph.
Firms like Microsoft and Apple have adopted comparable approaches throughout their working methods and gadgets. Nevertheless, Flower is likely one of the first to construct a hybrid cloud-local AI platform totally on open fashions, together with fashions from Meta’s Llama family, Chinese AI lab DeepSeek, and Mistral.
Flower Labs claims that its cloud, the Flower Confidential Distant Compute service, employs end-to-end encryption and “different methods” to guard delicate consumer knowledge. In a press release, Ryan Sipes, managing director for Mozilla Thunderbird, mentioned that Flower Intelligence permits Mozilla to ship on-device AI that “works regionally with essentially the most delicate knowledge.”
Builders can apply for early entry to Flower Intelligence as of Tuesday. Flower Labs says that it plans to make the service extra broadly out there within the close to future and introduce capabilities, together with mannequin customization, fine-tuning, and “federated” coaching within the cloud.
Flower Labs is internet hosting an internet and in-person summit in London on March 26, the place the corporate is promising to disclose further Flower Intelligence particulars and options.
Since launching in 2023, Flower Labs has raised round $23.6 million in enterprise capital from buyers, together with Felicis, Hugging Face CEO Clem Delangue, Betaworks, and Pioneer Fund. Courageous, the open supply internet browser, was an early associate and collaborator.
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