Latest news with #LEIP
Techday NZ
6 days ago
- Business
- Techday NZ
Latent AI unveils platform to speed & secure edge AI rollout
Latent AI has announced the launch of Latent Agent, an edge AI platform designed to simplify the management and security of deploying artificial intelligence models at the edge. Built upon the Latent AI Efficient Inference Platform (LEIP), Latent Agent is designed to automate optimisation and deployment tasks, enabling developers to iterate, deploy, monitor, and secure edge AI models at scale. The company states that the new platform addresses the complexity issues that have made enterprise adoption of edge AI challenging. Complexity of traditional MLOps Traditional machine learning operations (MLOps) force developers to manually optimise models for specific hardware, often without a comprehensive understanding of device constraints. This can create pressure on teams, as optimisation workflows typically demand multiple specialists per hardware pipeline, and the complexity multiplies with each additional hardware target. According to Latent AI, this challenge has extended go-to-market timelines to as much as twelve weeks and led to substantial resource overhead for many organisations, particularly those looking to scale across diverse edge devices such as drones and sensors. "The rapid shift to edge AI has exposed gaps in traditional MLOps, slowing innovation and scalability," said Sek Chai, CTO and Co-founder of Latent AI. "Latent Agent eliminates the model-to-hardware guessing game, replacing weeks-long deployment cycles and scarce expertise with intelligent automation. This is a game-changer for enterprises racing to stay competitive." Platform features Latent Agent aims to streamline the lifecycle of edge AI, spanning exploration, training, development, and deployment across a range of hardware platforms. A key feature is its natural language interface, which lets developers set their AI requirements while receiving model-to-hardware recommendations from Latent AI Recipes. This knowledge base draws on 12TB of telemetry data compiled from over 200,000 device hours. Within the platform, a Visual Studio Code (VS Code) extension has been introduced to incorporate these agentic capabilities into developer workflows, providing an interface for requirement gathering and deployment. Other capabilities highlighted include an adaptive model architecture that can autonomously detect performance drift in deployed models and take remedial actions, such as retraining or over-the-air updates, without human intervention. Latent Agent's Recipes leverages automatically benchmarked model-to-hardware configurations, aiming to enable faster iteration and model deployment. The company states this accelerated approach will remove bottlenecks caused by manual processes and facilitate secure management of AI infrastructure at scale. "The biggest barrier to edge AI at scale has always been the complexity of optimising models for constrained hardware environments," said Dan Twing, President and COO of Enterprise Management Associates, and Principal Analyst for Intelligent Automation. "Latent Agent addresses that challenge head-on. It streamlines the hardest part of edge AI—getting high-performance models running on diverse devices—so teams can move faster and scale confidently." Business focus Latent Agent is being presented as a tool to accelerate development timelines, allow autonomous operations, and support scaling. By reducing the need for deep machine learning or hardware expertise, the company claims deployment times can be shortened from twelve weeks to a matter of hours. The agentic platform's compile-once, deploy-anywhere function is said to support any chip, operating system, or form factor, thereby assisting in the management of thousands of edge devices simultaneously. Furthermore, Latent Agent incorporates security measures such as model encryption, watermarking, and compliance with Department of Defence (DoD) security standards, designed to protect sensitive deployments. "At Latent AI, we've always believed that edge AI should be as simple to deploy as it is powerful to use," said Jags Kandasamy, CEO and Co-founder of Latent AI. "Latent Agent represents the natural evolution of our mission—transforming edge AI from a specialised engineering challenge into an accessible conversation. By combining our proven optimisation expertise with agentic intelligence, we're not just making edge AI faster; we're making it possible for any developer to achieve what previously required a team of ML experts." The new platform is now available to organisations seeking to improve deployment speed, operational autonomy, scalability, and security for edge AI models.
The Herald Scotland
09-06-2025
- Politics
- The Herald Scotland
Islanders launch legal challenge over Mull school location
A spokesperson for the group said that the council's approach has been 'shoddy and biased' and that they have been left with 'no option' but to pursue legal action. Argyll and Bute Council has faced significant criticism over its decision to locate the proposed new school in Tobermory, the main town on the island. The current school, also in Tobermory, incorporates a nursery, primary and secondary school, but surveys have shown that a majority supported moving the high school component to a central location in order to end the practice of some children being sent to board in Oban from the age of eleven. Throughout the process, the council has insisted that only a single-site approach is viable, and officials ultimately recommended the new school be built on a site on the southern edge Tobermory. This advice was accepted by councillors at a special sitting of the council in Lochgilphead. The situation has been described as an example of a 'wider democratic deficit' in Scotland, and islanders have told The Herald that the council has left them feeling 'silenced and belittled.' The move to build a new school was originally referred to as the 'Mull Campus Project', but recent communication from council officials has stated that 'the Tobermory Campus project is focussed on creating an improved and enhanced learning environment for the pupils within the current Tobermory High School catchment area.' The new legal action, being pursed by the Mull Campus Working Group, argues that the council's decision to limit itself to consideration of a single site, and the consequent narrowing of any consultation work, was 'inherently unfair'. They also believe that the council acted 'irrationally' in failing to properly consider the offer of free land at a central location, and allege councillors were misinformed about the offer itself. Finally, the group are challenging the failure to hold a formal vote on the proposals which they say contravenes the council's constitution. The campaigners say that they were 'warned not to challenge' the council's decision to locate the new school in Tobermory, and that delays to the programme could 'jeopardise Scottish Government funding,' which they described as being told to accept the plans as they are or risk getting 'nothing at all'. Building projects funded through the government's Learning Estate Improvement Programme (LEIP) scheme, which is being used for the new school on Mull, operate under set – and theoretically strict – deadlines, but education secretary Jenny Gilruth has confirmed in a letter to local MSP Jenni Minto that 'funding will not be withdrawn if the project faces delays, provided there is a clear and robust justification for Ministers to grant an extension to the completion date.' The government recently announced an additional £2million for another LEIP project – a new Gaelic primary school in Glasgow – to ensure that it is completed, with the project running many months behind schedule. A spokesperson for the Mull Campus Working Group said the council's processes were 'shoddy and biased from the outset'. The continued: 'Before the LEIP (Learning Estate Investment Programme) application was even submitted, our community council asked to be consulted, but they were refused any input. 'The people of Mull - and in particular families and children from the Ross of Mull who currently cannot access the island's only high school – were cruelly deceived. What was sold to them as 'a school for the whole island' was never intended to be any such thing. 'We naively trusted our councillors and officials to look at this fairly, and deliver a high school that was accessible to all. But they have manipulated the process to make sure it would never be delivered. In effect they said 'sure, you can have your central high school, but only if we remove primary and ELC provision from Mull's largest town and move it 21 miles away' 'That's not a choice, that's moral blackmail.' The campaigners say that attempts to find a mediated solution to the impasse were 'dashed' when the council refused to attend a roundtable event being organised by local Jenni Minto. They told The Herald that they had 'hoped for the best but prepared for the worst,' and that the council's decision to 'shut the door on a negotiated, constructive way forward' has left them 'no option but to take this to the Court of Session in Edinburgh.' Argyll and Bute Council and the Scottish Government have been approached for comment.
The Herald Scotland
03-06-2025
- General
- The Herald Scotland
Extra funding to ensure completion of new Glasgow primary school
The new money will support the refurbishment and extension of the former St James' Primary School in Calton area of the city, which has lain derelict for more than a decade. Although originally planned for completion in December 2025, the school is now expected to be handed over to the council towards the end of 2026. Once opened, Bun-sgoil Ghàidhlig a' Challtainn (Calton Gaelic Primary School) will become the fourth Gaelic-medium primary school in Glasgow and will have space for a total of 416 pupils. The most recent census shows that the number of Gaelic-speakers in Glasgow has increased by more than 80 percent since 2011. The school is being funded via the Scottish Government's Learning Estate Investment Programme (LEIP), which is intended to support the development of schools across the country and ensure that children are learning in environments that are fit for purpose. Councils have been able to apply for help to rebuild or refurbish schools, and in some cases create new education services, with dozens of projects approved since the first round of awards in 2019. Councils are responsible for the upfront costs of each programme, but can recoup up to half from the Scottish Government over a twenty-five year period. However, a significant number of existing projects are now running late and at least one – the Doon Valley Campus in East Ayrshire – has been cancelled due to escalating costs, and major concerns have been raised about the proposed new school on the Isle of Mull. Asked if the Scottish Government would consider providing further support for other LEIP projects, the Deputy First Minister did not rule out the possibility. In addition to the funding for the school refurbishment, the government also announced support for twelve further educational and cultural projects. The money will be provided via the Gaelic Capital Fund and will allow for developments including expanded teaching spaces and upgraded equipment in schools, as well as initiatives such as a two-day Gaelic music event in South Uist, the extension of a Gaelic cultural centre in Skye, and the transcription of historic Gaelic recordings. Speaking during her visit to the school site, Kate Forbes said: 'This school will build on the encouraging surge we have seen in the number of Gaelic speakers and learners in Glasgow and support the language's growth into the future. 'Gaelic medium education enriches communities and offers good value for money by providing better grade averages across all qualification levels despite costs being no greater than average. 'To support Gaelic's growth across Scotland, we are providing an additional £5.7 million for Gaelic initiatives this year. We are also progressing the Scottish Languages Bill which, if passed by MSPs, will introduce measures to strengthen the provision of Gaelic education.' Alison Richardson, headteacher of Bun-sgoil Ghàidhlig a' Challtainn, said: 'With Gaelic medium education continuing to flourish in Glasgow, our pupils and parents are excited and proud to be moving Bun-sgoil Ghàidhlig a' Challtainn into its very own repurposed school located in the East End. 'We look forward to supporting Gaelic's growth in the Calton area, where many spoke it in the past, and for the school to become a real focal point and asset to the local community.'
