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 electronic mail shopper.
What makes Flower Intelligence distinctive, Flower Labs stated in a put up on X, is that it might probably drive on-device AI cellular, PC, and net apps that robotically hand off to a non-public cloud when wanted (with a person’s permission). Apps default to an AI mannequin working domestically for pace and privateness however swap to Flower’s cloud after they require additional computational oomph.
Companies like Microsoft and Apple have adopted related approaches throughout their working methods and units. However, Flower is among the first to construct a hybrid cloud-local AI platform solely on open fashions, together with fashions from Meta’s Llama household, Chinese AI lab DeepSeek, and Mistral.
Flower Labs claims that its cloud, the Flower Confidential Remote Compute service, employs end-to-end encryption and “different strategies” to guard delicate person information. In an announcement, Ryan Sipes, managing director for Mozilla Thunderbird, stated that Flower Intelligence allows Mozilla to ship on-device AI that “works domestically with essentially the most delicate information.”
Developers can apply for early entry to Flower Intelligence as of Tuesday. Flower Labs says that it plans to make the service extra extensively 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 a web-based and in-person summit in London on March 26, the place the corporate is promising to disclose extra Flower Intelligence particulars and options.
Since launching in 2023, Flower Labs has raised round $23.6 million in enterprise capital from traders, together with Felicis, Hugging Face CEO Clem Delangue, Betaworks, and Pioneer Fund. Brave, the open supply net browser, was an early accomplice and collaborator.
