OpenAI Group PBC today announced plans to buy Neptune Labs Inc., a startup with a platform that identities areas for improvement in artificial intelligence models.

The companies didn’t disclose the acquisition terms. Bloomberg reported that OpenAI plans to finance the deal with stock.

An AI model comprises a large number of relatively simple code snippets called neurons. Those neurons, which can number in the millions, are organized into so-called layers. Each layer performs a small portion of the computations involved in processing user prompts.

Researchers identify areas for improvement in AI models by analyzing technical data about their layers. In many cases, it can be difficult to collect that data because of its complexity and large storage footprint. Some observability tools downsample, or condense, telemetry about AI layers to make it more manageable, which comes at the expense of data accuracy.

Neptune’s platform can collect AI layer telemetry without downsampling it. The Poland-based company says its software thereby provides AI researchers with a more complete picture of their algorithms. That improved visibility makes it easier to identify inefficiencies, output quality gaps and other issues during AI training runs.

One of the tasks that Neptune promises to simplify is the process of tracking an AI model’s gradients. Those are data points that play an important role in the AI training workflow. They enable a neural network to learn from a processing mistake by configuring its neurons to avoid making similar errors in the future.

Neptune also collects data on activation functions, code modules attached to an AI model’s neurons. They enable the model to determine which of its neurons should be involved in a given calculation. Looping in unnecessary neurons can decrease output quality.

After assembling a dataset about an AI model’s layers, Neptune can visualize it in graphs. That removes the need to stream the data to an external analytics tool. Additionally, the platform makes it easier to determine which of an AI model’s numerous possible configurations offers the higher output quality.

Neptune’s website states that its software has been adopted by more than 60,000 AI researchers. Some of those professionals work at OpenAI, which uses the platform to support its model development efforts. The ChatGPT developer stated in a blog post that the acquisition will help enhance its internal AI tooling.

Neptune plans to sunset its platform on March 4. It will provide guides, scripts and other technical resources to help companies move their data to competing platforms.

The deal comes a few weeks after OpenAI acquired Software Applications Inc., an AI agent startup founded by former Apple Inc. staffers. The company developed an automation tool called Sky that can interact with a Mac on the user’s behalf. OpenAI will integrate Software Applications’ technology into ChatGPT. 

Image: Neptune