Can Indian Startups Win The AI Inference Race?

by · Inc42

SUMMARY

  • The race to build smarter AI models is giving way to AI inference: Running them efficiently at scale. Indian startups are stepping in.
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Nations worldwide have spent the last few years obsessing over bigger models and the compute power needed to train them. However, as models move into everyday products, it is becoming difficult to run AI models faster, cheaper and reliably at scale.

This is where inference platforms are emerging as saviours. Now, before we dive into the topic, let’s first understand what inference actually means.

Simply put, inference is the process through which a trained AI model uses what it has learned to respond to new inputs, such as questions, images or instructions.

For context, when you ask an AI model to summarise a health report or a business document, it uses its existing capabilities to process your request and generate a response. But achieving this is not as simple as it reads. 

Now, the challenge is that every interaction with AI requires computing resources, whose costs can quickly add up as millions of users interact with AI-powered products every day. This is where inference platforms have found their niche. These platforms deploy, manage and optimise AI models without having to build and maintain the entire infrastructure themselves.

In India, companies such as Simplismart, Pipeshift and E2E Networks are building different layers of the inference stack, betting that businesses will increasingly pay for faster, cheaper and more reliable AI.

But with global cloud giants and AI providers competing for a share of this growing market, where do Indian startups stand? And what will it take for them to build sustainable businesses? Let’s explore in today’s edition of The AI Shift…

Why Inference Became A Business Problem

The need for inference platforms becomes clearer when we look at how businesses are using AI in their everyday operations. After integrating an AI model into their product, businesses want to make sure that it is delivering reliable results at the right speed and cost.

Take Apna, a jobs and professional networking platform and a customer of Indian inference startup Simplismart. The company uses AI for tasks such as improving candidate profiles and onboarding employers.