“We’re Reaching the Limits of AI Compute,” Says CTGT CEO As Startup Raises $7.2M

A decade ago, Cyril Gorlla was a teenager watching Google I/O, captivated by the early promises of artificial intelligence. With only an aging laptop at his disposal and a household that sometimes faced utility disconnections, he began experimenting with rudimentary machine-learning models. Fast forward to today, and he is the co-founder and CEO of CTGT, a startup tackling one of AI’s most pressing issues: the immense computational cost of training and deploying large-scale models. CTGT, which Gorlla started with his former classmate Trevor Tuttle, has secured $7.2 million in a funding round led by Gradient Ventures, Google’s AI-focused investment arm. The round also saw participation from General Catalyst, Y Combinator, and Liquid 2 Ventures, along with notable angel investors such