Velvet

Velvet is a developer-focused platform built to analyze, evaluate, and monitor AI-powered features. It acts as a gateway, giving teams the tools to see how their AI models and applications are performing in real-world use. This is critical for maintaining reliability and improving systems that rely on large language models (LLMs) and other generative AI components.

The tool works by providing a unified interface for AI observability. It helps developers track the behavior of their AI features, assess the quality of LLM outputs, and identify issues that need fixing. What made Velvet stand out was its specific focus on being a developer gateway, simplifying a complex process. The platform was acquired by Arize in 2025, and its founders joined to help expand Arize's enterprise AI evaluation and observability offerings.

This tool is most beneficial for AI developers, machine learning engineers, and teams deploying AI applications at scale. Real-world use cases include monitoring a customer service chatbot's response accuracy, evaluating different LLM providers for a specific task, and ensuring an AI-powered recommendation feature stays effective after deployment. It's for teams that need clear insights into their AI's performance beyond initial development.