CHAI, the high-growth AI startup, has announced a significant breakthrough in artificial intelligence model optimization with the successful deployment of quantized large language models (LLMs). This achievement, spearheaded by CHAI’s dedicated AI research team, dramatically reduces inference latency by 56% while meticulously preserving model performance. This milestone is crucial as the platform now handles an astounding 1.2 trillion tokens daily, placing it in direct competition with industry leaders such as Anthropic’s Claude.

Model quantization is an innovative technique designed to reduce the numerical precision of neural network parameters, thereby optimizing LLMs for greater efficiency. CHAI's research team conducted extensive evaluations of various quantization approaches, including INT8, FP16, and hybrid methods, to identify the optimal balance between efficiency and output quality. The chosen implementation delivers remarkable benefits: a 56% increase in inference speed, significantly reducing response times for users; a smaller model footprint, which lowers memory and compute costs; and less than 1% performance degradation, ensuring accuracy across all benchmarks. This algorithmic innovation perfectly complements CHAI’s recent $20 million compute investment, enabling the platform to effectively manage its exponential growth and maintain competitive inference speeds while serving 1.2 trillion tokens per day.

Beyond this technological advancement, CHAI stands out as a pioneering social AI platform where users have the unique ability to create their own AI companions. Notably, CHAI was the first consumer AI product to achieve 1 million users, leveraging the open-sourced LLM GPT-J even before the emergence of widely known platforms like ChatGPT or Llama. Since its launch three years ago, CHAI has experienced rapid and substantial growth, particularly captivating a large Gen Z user base. To further support this expansion and foster wider adoption, CHAI recently undertook a comprehensive brand redesign.

The platform is meticulously designed to offer the most engaging and entertaining social AI experience. Users frequently leverage CHAI to craft interactive stories and immerse themselves in diverse narrative experiences. The appeal of CHAI stems from its use of advanced AI techniques to enhance the entertainment value of its bots, allowing users to engage in dynamic conversations and collaboratively write interactive novels across a variety of genres, appealing especially to avid novel readers. CHAI has implemented robust safety features to ensure users can engage in lively chats while adhering to established guidelines, continually striving to enhance user value and experience through responsible AI development.

As of March 2025, CHAI primarily operates as an app-based experience, with no immediate plans for a web application. The company is committed to refining its mobile app, though future developments might include a browser version. The company was founded by William Beauchamp, a two-time founder, who began building CHAI with his sister in Cambridge, UK, in 2020. After establishing the initial AI chat platform, they relocated to Palo Alto. CHAI is a fast-growing company renowned for its high salaries and an intense, results-oriented culture focused on rapid iteration. Interested individuals can find application details on CHAI’s official website.