Case study: Edge AI deployment gets simpler with Latent AI
2018 SRI spinout helps developers compress, secure, and deploy AI models at the edge.
CHALLENGE: EDGE HARDWARE MAKES AI DEPLOYMENT SLOW AND COSTLY
Deploying AI models on edge devices, like sensors, drones, cameras, vehicles, and other resource-constrained hardware, has traditionally required manual, hardware-specific engineering. Every new processor, framework, or operating system meant re-tuning from scratch, and compute, energy, and memory limits forced trade-offs between accuracy and performance. That complexity slowed enterprises trying to move AI from the lab to real-world, resource-constrained environments.
SOLUTION: AN ADAPTIVE AI PLATFORM THAT WORKS ACROSS ANY HARDWARE
SRI’s research in machine learning, computer vision, and robotics under DARPA-funded projects resulted in Latent AI, spun out in 2018 by SRI researchers Sek Chai and Jags Kandasamy. The company’s Latent AI Efficient Inference Platform (LEIP™) compiles, compresses, and deploys AI models for any hardware target, framework, or operating system, without requiring changes to existing AI/ML infrastructure. This “adaptive AI” approach lets developers train, quantize, secure, and update edge AI neural networks from a single, end-to-end workflow, compressing large neural networks by up to 90% with less than 1% accuracy loss.
IMPACT: AN INDEPENDENT COMPANY SCALING EDGE AI FOR DEFENSE AND INDUSTRY
Latent AI closed a $3.5 million seed round led by Future Ventures in 2019, followed by a Series A round in 2021 — the same year CB Insights named the company to its AI 100 list of the world’s most promising private AI startups. Latent AI has since raised $29.5 million across three funding rounds and grown into an independent company.
Today, Latent AI works with organizations including Wind River, Sigma Defense, Abaco Systems, and Rajant Health to deploy AI at the tactical and industrial edge.
PARTNER WITH US
SRI continues to advance breakthrough machine learning, computer vision, and robotics. Our ventures team has a successful track record of ventures spanning cyber security, automation, AI, drug discovery, robotics, low earth orbit tracking, and many more. Latent AI joins a long line of companies spun out of SRI over its 80-year history, including Siri and Intuitive Surgical. Our portfolio includes companies that have been acquired by industry giants such as Apple, Bayer, Ford, and Salesforce.