TL;DR:
- Graft’s AI development platform aims to make AI accessible to all companies, not just tech giants.
- The startup receives a $10 million seed investment, with plans to expand access to its platform.
- CEO Adam Oliner highlights the gap between playing with AI models and building production-ready applications.
- Graft introduces user-friendly apps to simplify AI development for customers.
- The recent investment round led by Radical Ventures brings Graft’s total funding to $14.5 million.
Main AI News:
In a bid to democratize AI development, Graft unveiled its AI development platform in beta last year, aiming to make artificial intelligence accessible to companies of all sizes, not just the tech giants with abundant engineering resources. Now, the startup has exciting news to share, as it secures a substantial $10 million seed investment to further its mission. Alongside this milestone, Graft has announced an invitation for companies to request access to their platform, as they embark on a controlled expansion, welcoming a larger number of enterprises into the fold.
The visionary behind Graft is none other than Adam Oliner, the co-founder, and CEO. His inspiration for creating the company arose during his tenure overseeing AI at Slack. Oliner has keenly observed the surging interest in ChatGPT, recognizing its potential to elevate AI to the forefront of business discussions. However, he emphasizes the stark contrast between playing with ChatGPT as a novelty and developing a fully-fledged, production-ready AI application.
“While the allure of these cutting-edge AI models is undeniable, they are not optimized for production, and established platforms remain inaccessible to non-experts,” Oliner conveyed in an interview with TechCrunch. With this in mind, Graft is committed to bridging the market gap by providing a production-grade, contemporary AI platform designed for universal use.
Nonetheless, Oliner acknowledges that the journey to production-readiness isn’t without challenges. While language models and similar abstractions simplify some complexities, the overall process has become more intricate. These models remain intricate and lack easy explanations, presenting new quandaries related to compliance, privacy, and AI ethics.
To alleviate these hurdles, Graft has introduced a range of user-friendly apps that allow customers to kickstart their AI projects effortlessly, sparing them from starting from scratch. These pre-defined templates, aptly referred to as “apps,” cover various use cases, such as visual search and customer champion identification. Clients can swiftly instantiate these templates, customized according to their data requirements. By offering this approach, Graft handles the underlying infrastructure, streamlining the process for businesses.
The recent $10 million investment round was spearheaded by Radical Ventures, with GV also participating. This brings Graft’s total funding to an impressive $14.5 million, following a $4.5 million pre-seed round secured last year. With this substantial financial backing and a powerful AI development platform, Graft is well-poised to empower companies of all sizes to embrace the potential of artificial intelligence in their operations. As AI continues to shape the future of business, Graft’s commitment to democratization sets a compelling example in the tech industry.
Conclusion:
Graft’s AI development platform marks a significant step towards democratizing AI for businesses of all sizes. With substantial financial backing and user-friendly applications, Graft is poised to unlock the true potential of AI in various industries. As AI continues to shape the market landscape, Graft’s inclusive approach sets a compelling precedent, encouraging wider adoption of AI technologies among enterprises. Businesses that harness Graft’s platform can gain a competitive edge, driving innovation and efficiency across their operations.
