We Contribute Leading Open-Source Research, Models, and Datasets to Advance the Frontier of AI: Vipul Ved Prakash, CEO of Together AI

Together AI is a research-driven AI cloud infrastructure provider. The company’s purpose-built GPU platform gives engineers and researchers the ability to train, fine-tune, and run frontier-scale models without unnecessary complexity. Together AI’s technology is already trusted by global SaaS leaders such as Salesforce, Zoom, and Zomato, as well as fast-growing AI startups like ElevenLabs, Hedra, and Cartesia.

We sat down with Vipul Ved Prakash, founder and CEO of Together AI, to learn how the company is shaping the open future of generative AI and why access, speed, and reliability matter more than ever.

Why Together AI Exists

Vipul began our conversation by reflecting on how closed the AI world has become. “A few large companies control the most advanced models and the resources needed to run them,” he said. “That limits innovation. We wanted to create an infrastructure layer that puts power back into the hands of developers, startups, and researchers everywhere.

Together AI was founded with the belief that AI should be accessible and open. Instead of locking users into proprietary systems, the company supports a wide range of open-source models. By doing so, it gives teams the freedom to choose the right tools for their work and the ability to customize them for specific use cases.

“We are deeply inspired by the open-source movement,” Vipul said. “Just as open-source software changed the way the internet grew, we believe open models and open infrastructure will shape the next generation of AI products.”

Removing Barriers for Developers

When asked about the biggest pain points in AI today, Vipul didn’t hesitate. “Most developers spend more time fighting infrastructure than building applications,” he explained. “Training a model at scale requires specialized hardware, distributed systems knowledge, and huge amounts of capital. That’s a barrier that shuts out a lot of brilliant ideas.”

Together AI was created to remove those barriers. Its GPU cloud is optimized for large-scale model training and inference, while its APIs provide instant access to models without forcing teams to manage clusters or write complex deployment pipelines.

“You shouldn’t have to be an expert in distributed computing to fine-tune a model,” Vipul said. “Our goal is to abstract away the infrastructure so that developers can focus on the creative and problem-solving parts of AI.”

Building Products That Last

Together AI is designed to help teams go from prototype to production quickly, without worrying about bottlenecks.

Vipul shared that many of the company’s customers are startups building AI-first products. “For a startup, time to market can mean survival,” he said. “If you spend months just setting up infrastructure, you risk falling behind. With Together, you can train, fine-tune, and deploy in days instead of weeks or months.”

The platform also scales seamlessly. Whether a team needs to run a small experiment or deploy a large model to serve millions of users, Together AI provides the underlying compute and orchestration. “We’ve built for elasticity,” Vipul said. “That means our customers can start small and grow as their user base grows, without having to rethink their entire system.”

Making Reliability a Given

Building AI infrastructure isn’t just about speed. Reliability is equally important, especially as models move into production. Together AI guarantees uptime and performance that developers can count on.

“Nothing kills momentum like downtime,” Vipul noted. “We want teams to know that once their model is live, it’s going to work. They don’t have to wake up in the middle of the night worrying about whether their system will scale.”

Trust also extends to data and compliance. Together AI works closely with enterprise customers to ensure their deployments meet security and regulatory standards. Vipul emphasized that trust is foundational. “If developers and companies can’t trust the infrastructure, they won’t build on it. Reliability and trust are not features; they’re obligations.”

Serving Startups and Enterprises Alike

One of the unique aspects of Together AI is its ability to serve both ends of the market. Startups gain access to enterprise-grade infrastructure they couldn’t build on their own, while larger organizations benefit from the agility and openness of Together’s platform.

Vipul explained it simply: “AI shouldn’t just be for those with billion-dollar budgets. We’ve seen students, small research labs, and founders with no infrastructure background use Together to bring their ideas to life. That’s what excites us.”

Lessons From the Journey

Reflecting on building Together AI, Vipul pointed to the importance of listening to developers. “We started by asking a simple question: what’s holding you back from building the product you want? Over and over, the answer was infrastructure,” he said. “That’s what we set out to fix.”

He also credited the company’s culture of engineering excellence. “We are lucky to have a team that combines deep systems expertise with a passion for open-source. That combination is what makes Together unique.”

What’s Next for Together AI

When asked about the future, Vipul painted a picture of AI infrastructure that is open, fast, and global. “We’re still in the early days of generative AI,” he said. “The next breakthroughs won’t come from a handful of companies. They will come from a broad community of developers experimenting, iterating, and pushing boundaries. Our job is to give them the foundation to do that.”

Together AI plans to continue expanding its GPU cloud, adding support for new models, and building more tools that make fine-tuning and deployment easier. The vision is to create an infrastructure layer that becomes the default for anyone building with AI.

“AI should not live behind closed doors,” Vipul concluded. “The future belongs to open systems that anyone can build on. That’s the world we’re working toward with Together.”

Vipul Ved Prakash, Founder & CEO, Together AI

We believe open and transparent AI systems will drive innovation and create the best outcomes for society.