Intelligent application development startup Clarifai Inc. today announced the launch of AI Runners, a new offering designed to provide developers and MLOps engineers with uniquely flexible options for deploying and managing their artificial intelligence models.

AI Runners allows users to connect models running on their local machines or private servers directly to Clarifai’s platform via a publicly accessible application programming interface. That provides what the company describes as a “best of both worlds” solution for modern AI development.

The new offering is assists in dealing with the rising demands for computing power at a time that agentic AI and protocols such as Model Context Protocol strain computing resources. The idea with AI Runners is to provide a cost-effective and secure solution for managing the escalating demands of modern AI workloads.

“AI Runners is a pivotal feature that sets Clarifai apart, as it is currently the only platform offering this capability, providing a crucial competitive advantage,” said Chief Technology Officer Alfredo Ramos. “This launch reinforces Clarifai’s focus on agentic AI and inference-as-a-service, streamlining the developer experience and accelerating AI adoption.”

AI Runners give developers and enterprises flexibility and control by allowing models or MCP tools to run anywhere, on local machines, on-premise servers, or private cloud clusters. The setup ensures sensitive data and custom models remain within the user’s environment while still benefiting from Clarifai’s platform, eliminating vendor lock-in.

Developers can use AI Runners to instantly serve their custom models through Clarifai’s scalable and publicly accessible API, making it easy to integrate AI into applications and build advanced, multistep workflows by chaining local models. Notably, Clarifai offers thousands of ready to use from a single dashboard.

The solution also simplifies the path to production by enabling a local-first development approach that scales effortlessly to Kubernetes-based compute clusters. The transition from testing to enterprise deployment is made easier via transparent pricing and an easy onboarding process.

Clarifai was previously in the news in December when it expanded its AI compute capabilities with the launch of a new compute orchestration platform that spans every public cloud and on-premises server.

The venture-backed company has raised $101 million over four rounds, including a round of $60 million in October 2021. Investors in the company include New Enterprise Associates Inc., Menlo Ventures LP, Union Square Ventures, Lux Capital, LDV Capital, Corazon Capital, NextEquity Partners, SineWave Ventures, Trousdale Capital and Numeta Capital.

Image: Clarifai