What is custom AI?
Custom AI is an AI system built around one organization's own work (its documents, procedures and systems) instead of a general-purpose tool used as it comes. With cstmAI that means the hardware it runs on, the software that serves and governs it, and the code our engineers write on top, all specified for you.
How is a custom AI project priced?
By quote, because scope drives cost. Every project starts with a two-week discovery sprint that ends in a written plan, a hardware configuration sheet and a quote for the build. You decide whether to continue at that point.
How long does it take to build a custom AI system?
Discovery takes two weeks. A first system is typically in production 8–12 weeks after discovery begins, depending on hardware lead times and integration work. Multi-node clusters and facility work take longer, and we date the plan after the site survey.
Why buy AI hardware instead of using a cloud API?
Control over where data goes, predictable cost once usage is steady, and the ability to run with no internet connection. Cloud APIs are a good place to experiment. If your workload doesn't justify hardware yet, we'll say so in discovery.
Are we tied to one hardware vendor?
No. We specify systems from multiple vendors and choose each component on workload fit, availability and support. The configuration sheet records why every part was chosen.
Which AI models can a custom system run?
Open-weight models such as Llama, Qwen, Mistral, DeepSeek, Gemma and gpt-oss, plus embedding, speech and vision models. We test candidates on your own tasks and choose on score, speed and hardware cost.
Who owns what you build?
You own the hardware outright, and the code, prompts, evaluation sets and any fine-tuned model weights we create are delivered to your own repositories and storage.
Can custom AI support HIPAA, SOC 2 or GDPR requirements?
cstmAI supports HIPAA, SOC 2 and GDPR programs with on-premises deployment, access control, audit logging, retention settings and redaction. Compliance belongs to your organization's program, and we document how each control maps to it.