Summary
In this episode of the AI Engineering podcast Viraj Mehta, CTO and co-founder of TensorZero, talks about the use of LLM gateways for managing interactions between client-side applications and various AI models. He highlights the benefits of using such a gateway, including standardized communication, credential management, and potential features like request-response caching and audit logging. The conversation also explores TensorZero's architecture and functionality in optimizing AI applications by managing structured data inputs and outputs, as well as the challenges and opportunities in automating prompt generation and maintaining interaction history for optimization purposes.


Announcements

• Hello and welcome to the AI Engineering Podcast, your guide to the fast-moving world of building scalable and maintainable AI systems
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• Your host is Tobias Macey and today I'm interviewing Viraj Mehta about the purpose of an LLM gateway and his work on TensorZero

Interview

• Introduction
• How did you get involved in machine learning?
• What is an LLM gateway?
  • What purpose does it serve in an AI application architecture?
• What are some of the different features and capabilities that an LLM gateway might be expected to provide?
• Can you describe what TensorZero is and the story behind it?
  • What are the core problems that you are trying to address with Tensor0 and for whom?
• One of the core features that you are offering is management of interaction history. How does this compare to the "memory" functionality offered by e.g. LangChain, Cognee, Mem0, etc.?
• How does the presence of TensorZero in an application architecture change the ways that an AI engineer might approach the logic and control flows in a chat-based or agent-oriented project?
• Can you describe the workflow of building with Tensor0 and some specific examples of how it feeds back into the performance/behavior of an LLM?
• What are some of the ways in which the addition of Tensor0 or another LLM gateway might have a negative effect on the design or operation of an AI application?
• What are the most interesting, innovative, or unexpected ways that you have seen TensorZero used?
• What are the most interesting, unexpected, or challenging lessons that you have learned while working on TensorZero?
• When is TensorZero the wrong choice?
• What do you have planned for the future of TensorZero?

Contact Info

• LinkedIn

Parting Question

• From your perspective, what are the biggest gaps in tooling, technology, or training for AI systems today?

Closing Announcements

• Thank you for listening! Don't forget to check out our other shows. The Data Engineering Podcast covers the latest on modern data management. Podcast.__init__ covers the Python language, its community, and the innovative ways it is being used.
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Links

• TensorZero
• LLM Gateway
• LiteLLM
• OpenAI
• Google Vertex
• Anthropic
• Reinforcement Learning
• Tokamak Reactor
• Viraj RLHF Paper
• Contextual Dueling Bandits
• Direct Preference Optimization
• Partially Observable Markov Decision Process
• DSPy
• PyTorch
• Cognee
• Mem0
• LangGraph
• Douglas Hofstadter
• OpenAI Gym
• OpenAI o1
• OpenAI o3
• Chain Of Thought

The intro and outro music is from Hitman's Lovesong feat. Paola Graziano by The Freak Fandango Orchestra/CC BY-SA 3.0