Together AI is teaming up with Pearl Research Labs, the creators of the Pearl Network, in a strategic move to significantly reduce the cost of AI inference. This partnership aims to integrate blockchain technology, specifically Pearl's 'Proof of Useful Work' protocol, directly into AI computation.
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The core innovation lies in Pearl's ability to generate its native cryptocurrency, ¶PRL coin, by leveraging the computational power used for AI training and inference. This means every GPU cycle dedicated to AI workloads simultaneously contributes to securing the blockchain and mining new digital assets, effectively offsetting compute costs without additional expense.
As a first product of this collaboration, Together AI is launching a discounted inference endpoint for the instruction-tuned Gemma-4-31B-it-pearl model. This endpoint offers over a 25% discount, with the savings underwritten by the future value of crypto emissions generated through the Pearl Network. Together AI plans to expand this portfolio, potentially allowing customers to directly benefit from these emissions.
