The state of AI and connectivity in 2024

Since Telnyx’s founding over a decade ago, we’ve believed universal service is possible—and we still do. With our CPaaS roots, we’ve connected thousands of customers via our scalable communications APIs, offering complete control and transparency to build great relationships.

In the past five years, we’ve continuously evolved, expanding our offering to take on adjacent markets in IoT and edge networking. We’ve put our expertise to use for our customers to deliver low-latency, highly available products.

As we continue to innovate at the intersection of AI and communication technologies, the landscape of connectivity is experiencing another transformation. Just as Telnyx has adapted and expanded over the years, the broader industry is moving toward an exciting new future.

Connectivity is changing again

Rapid advancement in AI research and technology has opened the floodgates to possibilities for improving existing products and creating new ones.

Looking back over the past half century, connectivity has been redefined every 10–15 years, from mainframes in the 1980s to the internet in the 1990s to smartphones in the 2010s. It’s clear that we’re now at another inflection point. The next wave of connectivity will be built on smart, AI-bolstered edge networks that don’t go down and are reliant on low-latency service.

The integration of AI into connectivity infrastructure signals a major leap forward. However, this rapid growth introduces significant challenges. As AI applications multiply, the current networks and systems must evolve to keep pace with increasing demands.

The AI boom and its challenges

It may seem like little is holding the AI industry back as markets reach record levels and new companies and products pop up almost every day. But today’s connectivity networks and infrastructure still have a long way to go before they can support the number of AI applications the market demands.

Performance and scalability

The major current connectivity networks suffer from severe performance and scalability limitations i. These limitations prevent them from supporting full-scale AI and real-time applications.

Smaller, more nimble organizations have been able to harness compute power in distributed locations. This distributed infrastructure has resulted in faster access to data and more scalable services.

Despite the progress made by smaller, more agile organizations, there still aren't enough of them to fully meet the expanding demands of AI applications. Both small firms and large connectivity networks are actively working to bridge this gap. They’re investing in advanced technologies and building more robust infrastructure to enhance performance and ensure scalability. This collaborative effort is crucial as the demand for AI capabilities continues to grow at an unprecedented rate.

Competition for dedicated resources

Robust infrastructure and dedicated hardware are the backbone of AI's evolution. These components are crucial for enabling next-generation AI applications. Without appropriate support systems, the development and deployment of advanced AI technologies could be hampered. What’s more, infrastructure and networks require expertise to design and deploy, adding to development timelines and requiring intensive capital.

Efforts to address the competition for dedicated AI resources are underway, with increased investment in specialized infrastructure and the development of custom hardware solutions. However, the pace of these developments often struggles to match the rapid advancement and adoption of AI technologies. There’s also a significant gap in the availability of skilled professionals needed to design and manage these complex systems. This discrepancy continues to pose a challenge to the timely and effective scaling of AI applications.

To fully unlock the potential of AI, it is crucial that we confront and overcome its current challenges. Only by addressing these barriers can we pave the way for more advanced and effective AI applications. At Telnyx, we’re committed to leading these efforts, envisioning a future where AI's possibilities are fully realized.

How Telnyx sees the future of AI

At Telnyx, we envision a future where AI is more accessible, integrated, and robustly supported. We see the democratization of AI through open-source models as a key driver of broader innovation and a shift in economic value within the industry. By blending AI with advanced connectivity, we aim to create smarter, more efficient networks that support real-time and edge applications.

Democratization of AI

It’s clear now that open-source AI models like Llama 3 and Zephyr 7B and platforms like Hugging Face are challenging proprietary models in terms of accuracy and quickly improving access to AI, even smaller businesses can spin up cost-effective AI answering services thanks to AI.

This shift suggests a broader innovation landscape and changes where economic value is concentrated in the AI space.

Integration of AI and connectivity

Blending AI capabilities with connectivity services—particularly in enabling real-time and edge applications—will result in more intelligent, efficient, and responsive networks. Edge IoT networks will facilitate the fast delivery of data from IoT devices to LLMs and back to users for low-latency interactions that customers expect today.

Evolving infrastructure demands

The need for dedicated hardware and robust support systems for AI underscores a growing demand for infrastructure that can support the next generation of AI applications on a global scale with speed. The delivery of low-latency AI services will be paramount for almost all AI applications. Leaders in the space will need to have complete control over their underlying infrastructure, from data center to GPU.

With our solid foundation in global communications and a growing suite of AI tools,Telnyx is well-prepared to lead the charge in this new era of connectivity and AI.

How Telnyx will lead in AI

With our history in the communications and connectivity space, our networking and infrastructure teams already have years of experience building out global real-time communications and IP networks. In anticipation of the demand for more AI-powered applications, we’re also building out our suite of AI tools.

The co-location of our AI and edge infrastructure, alongside our global communications network, uniquely positions Telnyx to be at the forefront of this next iteration of connectivity. Our goal is to enable greater accessibility to AI, ensuring that we lead the way in integrating these technologies.

Telnyx has complete control, from APIs to infrastructure

Telnyx sits at the intersection of AI and connectivity. We’ve vertically integrated from the API down to the network, so we’re fully in control at every level. We pass that control along to our customers, putting them in the driver's seat through our Mission Control Portal and APIs.

The next step is to expand our infrastructure and footprint to enable global applications. We’ll be able to ideate and iterate on software development and AI capabilities in ways our competitors cannot.

By extending our reach and enhancing our services, our customers will gain unprecedented flexibility and scalability for their AI-driven projects. They can expect reduced latency, more reliable connectivity, and greater customization options, allowing them to tailor solutions that meet their specific needs.

We’ve designed our infrastructure for super low-latency

Not every company has a team of network engineers—and they shouldn’t have to. We’ve spent years building our network and have the expertise to optimize for the scalable, low-latency service that AI requires. Our network of owned GPUs powers Telnyx AI APIs. They’re co-located with our Storage and Communications infrastructure to power super low-latency applications.

Distributed infrastructure and multi-cloud networks are baked into our product set, so you can have peace of mind knowing your applications will stay up and on—without having to become a networking expert. We’ve already built for scale, so staying up to speed during a boom won’t be an issue.

We’re democratizing access to AI tools

You shouldn’t have to bring on AI experts to experiment with AI. Our new AI tools enable a broader range of users to leverage cutting-edge technologies tailored to their specific needs.

Open-source LLM library

With open-source LLMs becoming more and more powerful and important as AI progresses, we’re dedicating resources to build an open-source LLM Library to increase accessibility to new, niche models as they become available.

OpenAI-compatible APIs

Most first-generation AI applications were built on top of OpenAI, which had the best models and APIs out of the gate. But as development in the space continues, we’re betting some open-source models will be better for specific use cases than GPT.

We’re building OpenAI-compatible APIs to make it easy for customers and companies to switch when they need to, without having to go through a heavy migration process or start from scratch.

With these tools, we aim to lower the barriers to entry to AI innovation so everyone can experience the benefits of AI-enhanced applications.

Driving progress together with AI and connectivity advancements

At Telnyx, we’re not just focused on keeping pace with the technological evolution. We want to drive it. Our enduring priority has always been to connect people—not only to each other but to the technology that enriches their lives and businesses. This commitment is deeply embedded in our AI offerings and our vision for the future of connectivity. We will continually strive to empower our customers to innovate and excel.

With each advancement in AI and our strategic expansion of global connectivity infrastructure, we aim to democratize access to cutting-edge technologies. We want to provide our customers with powerful tools and solutions that allow them to implement AI applications with ease and efficiency. From the scalability of our APIs to the responsiveness of our Mission Control Portal, every element of Telnyx’s technology stack is designed to give users control and flexibility.

Our vision extends beyond just offering these services. We’re dedicated to combining our expansive global reach with precise, hyperlocal execution to ensure our customers receive the highest speed and quality at competitive prices. This approach enhances the capabilities of businesses around the world and drives forward the entire ecosystem of AI and connectivity, setting new standards for what’s possible.

As we advance into 2024 and beyond, Telnyx will continue to lead with innovations that redefine the landscape of connectivity and AI. By offering smarter, more efficient solutions, we pledge to keep our customers at the forefront of technological advancements, providing them with the tools they need to succeed in an increasingly connected world.