Galini - Compliance guardrails for AI apps
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Ensuring Trust in AI: Galini's Simple Solution for Complex Compliance

Galini, a newly launched start-up based in San Francisco, is quickly making a name for itself by addressing one of the most pressing concerns in the artificial intelligence (AI) sector—compliance. With a mission to ensure that AI applications meet the stringent requirements of industry regulations, Galini is setting the standard for AI guardrails. These guardrails, which filter harmful inputs and outputs based on company policies and regulatory standards, are designed to protect businesses from the risks associated with non-compliance. For companies looking to scale their AI applications while remaining compliant and secure, Galini offers a guardrails-as-a-service platform, streamlining the process of creating, testing, deploying, and monitoring compliance measures for AI applications.

Founded in 2024 by Shaun Ayrton and Raul Zablah, Galini operates as a two-person team that is already poised to make a significant impact in the AI compliance landscape. By providing a simple yet powerful solution, Galini aims to save businesses between $1-10 million annually by offering a cost-effective alternative to building compliance systems in-house. In this article, we will explore the problem that Galini is solving, the solution it offers, and the innovative features that set it apart in the crowded AI space.

What Problem Does Galini Solve for Businesses Using AI?

In today’s rapidly evolving digital landscape, AI has become a cornerstone for driving innovation and efficiency across industries. However, with the tremendous potential of AI comes a host of compliance challenges. As AI continues to play a more prominent role in consumer-facing applications and enterprise systems, the need for robust compliance mechanisms is more critical than ever.

A key issue many companies face is ensuring that their AI applications adhere to both internal company policies and external regulations. Compliance failures can result in severe consequences, including reputational damage, costly fines, and legal liabilities. The European Union's AI Act, for example, has set stringent guidelines for AI systems, with potential penalties of up to 7% of annual revenue or €35 million for non-compliance. Similar regulations are expected to emerge in the United States, raising the stakes even further.

For many businesses, the challenge isn’t just about adhering to these regulations; it’s about doing so at scale. One in two executives report fearing reputational damage from AI failures, and nearly half of organizations have already encountered negative consequences from using AI chatbots and assistants. Moreover, most companies are not adequately prepared to meet these compliance requirements, with only 6% feeling ready to accommodate the changes. Meanwhile, 80% are allocating more than 10% of their AI budgets to compliance efforts, underscoring the significant strain this issue places on resources.

Galini addresses these challenges head-on, offering a comprehensive solution that enables companies to build, evaluate, deploy, and monitor compliance guardrails with ease. By doing so, Galini helps mitigate the risk of compliance failures and allows businesses to confidently scale their AI applications without worrying about legal or regulatory issues.

What Are AI Guardrails and Why Are They Necessary?

Guardrails are a vital component of any AI system, particularly those that interact directly with customers or make critical decisions. These guardrails ensure that AI applications do not generate harmful, biased, or non-compliant outputs that could expose the company to legal, financial, or reputational risk. They act as safety nets, protecting businesses from the negative consequences of AI errors and ensuring that the AI behaves in a manner consistent with company policies and industry regulations.

Examples of AI applications that require guardrails include:

  • Search Engines: Guardrails prevent non-compliant queries and ensure that sensitive or proprietary information isn’t exposed to users.
  • Chatbots and Virtual Assistants: Guardrails help ensure that AI responses are accurate, ethical, and compliant with company policies.
  • Recommendation Engines: Guardrails filter outputs to avoid biased, irrelevant, or offensive suggestions that could harm brand trust.
  • Decisioning Systems: Guardrails ensure that automated decisions, such as loan approvals or hiring recommendations, are made in compliance with regulatory standards and free of discriminatory biases.
  • AI Agents: Guardrails prevent unauthorized actions, such as transactions or data access, ensuring the AI does not act outside of its predefined scope.

Despite the importance of these guardrails, most enterprises do not have access to effective, enterprise-grade guardrail solutions. As a result, many organizations are forced to build their own compliance systems from scratch, which can be costly, time-consuming, and prone to errors. The cost of building guardrails in-house can range from $1-10 million per year, in addition to delays of 6-12 months.

Galini addresses this gap by providing an out-of-the-box solution that allows businesses to quickly and efficiently implement compliance guardrails for their AI systems, saving both time and money.

How Does Galini’s Guardrails-as-a-Service Work?

Galini’s platform simplifies the process of integrating compliance guardrails into AI applications through a modular approach. The solution is designed to be easy to use, even for businesses without extensive compliance expertise. It features four core modules that work together to provide a comprehensive compliance solution:

  1. Build Custom Guardrails: Galini allows businesses to create guardrails tailored to their specific policies and regulatory requirements. This ensures that AI applications adhere to the organization’s unique standards and industry regulations.
  2. Evaluate Guardrails: With Galini’s synthetic test generator and evaluation engine, businesses can test the effectiveness of their guardrails before deployment. This feature helps identify potential compliance issues early in the process, reducing the risk of errors once the AI is live.
  3. Deploy Guardrails: Once the guardrails are ready, businesses can deploy them into their AI applications in seconds through Galini’s easy-to-use API. This eliminates the need for complex integrations or lengthy deployment processes.
  4. Monitor and Improve Performance: Galini’s platform continuously monitors the performance of deployed guardrails and provides businesses with feedback to help refine and improve them over time. This ensures that guardrails remain effective as regulations evolve and new risks emerge.

By providing a turnkey solution that covers all aspects of compliance, Galini enables companies to deploy AI applications that are not only reliable and efficient but also compliant with relevant laws and regulations.

Who Are the Founders Behind Galini?

Galini was founded by Shaun Ayrton and Raul Zablah, two seasoned entrepreneurs with deep expertise in technology, business strategy, and software engineering.

  • Shaun Ayrton (CEO): Before founding Galini, Shaun worked as a growth hacker at McKinsey, where he helped drive revenue acceleration for telecom and software clients. His experience in business strategy and his firsthand knowledge of the challenges companies face when deploying AI made him uniquely suited to tackle the compliance problem. Shaun has a track record of helping companies scale and manage risks, and his leadership is central to Galini’s vision of making AI applications reliable and compliant.
  • Raul Zablah (CTO): Raul is an expert in site reliability engineering (SRE) and software engineering. He has held senior roles at industry-leading firms such as Bridgewater, Morgan Stanley, and Ridgeline, where he built and scaled enterprise platforms. With a strong background in secure and reliable software development, Raul is focused on ensuring that Galini’s platform meets the highest standards of security and performance. His technical expertise is key to Galini’s success in delivering reliable compliance solutions at enterprise scale.

The two founders met during their time at the University of Pennsylvania’s M&T program in 2011 and have maintained a close professional relationship ever since. Their combined expertise in business and technology makes them a powerful duo, well-equipped to tackle the challenges of AI compliance.

Why is Galini Positioned for Success in the AI Industry?

Galini is well-positioned to succeed in the AI industry due to its unique approach to compliance and its focus on delivering a simple, cost-effective solution. With the rapid rise of AI applications across industries, the need for compliance guardrails has never been greater. Galini addresses this demand by providing an easy-to-deploy, scalable solution that can be tailored to the specific needs of each organization.

By offering guardrails-as-a-service, Galini helps companies save significant time and money compared to building their own compliance systems. The platform’s modular structure also ensures that businesses can continuously refine and improve their guardrails as regulations evolve, making Galini a future-proof solution for AI compliance.

In addition, the founders’ deep experience in both business and technology gives Galini a competitive edge. With a track record of driving revenue acceleration and building reliable, secure platforms, Shaun and Raul are uniquely positioned to lead the charge in making AI applications compliant and trustworthy.

In conclusion, as AI continues to transform industries and become an integral part of business operations, the need for compliance solutions will only grow. Galini is at the forefront of this movement, providing businesses with the tools they need to navigate the complex world of AI compliance with confidence and ease.