Nuked 
Hello, tech lovers! Today, we’re diving into an exciting new approach in AI development that’s making waves.
Fastino, a startup from Palo Alto, is shaking up the industry by creating tiny, task-specific AI models instead of massive, resource-heavy ones. These small models are so efficient they can be trained on affordable gaming GPUs, which costs less than $100,000 in total.
What’s truly impressive is that Fastino has just secured $17.5 million in seed funding led by Khosla Ventures, bringing their total funding close to $25 million. They previously raised $7 million in a round led by Microsoft’s VC arm and Insight Partners.
Fastino’s CEO Ash Lewis explains that their models outperform much larger counterparts on specific tasks, being faster, more accurate, and cheaper to train. They focus on enterprise needs like data redaction or document summarization, delivering quick, detailed responses that astonish early users.
While it’s still too soon to declare victory in this crowded AI space, early signs are promising. The company’s emphasis on building a team of contrarian researchers aims to challenge the norms of big-model development. It remains to be seen if this small-but-smart approach will dominate, but the backing from Khosla adds extra confidence.
Whether this method will revolutionize enterprise AI or just be a niche play, one thing’s clear—innovation never sleeps, and sometimes, less truly is more.
