AI makes the next call quickly: Cloudflare releases Clef

On October 1, Cloudflare released Clef and Clef-flash, models designed to help AI choose what to do next. For example, they can read an incoming inquiry, judge whether it is urgent, and decide which person should handle it. Their role differs from that of AI systems that produce long written answers.

Putting small decisions into the workflow

Clef returns a set of predefined options and a confidence score for each. Software can use those results to choose the next step, such as routing an inquiry to the right person or asking for confirmation. Cloudflare is also testing it for classifying websites.

The company released both models and made them available through its Workers AI service. It also announced a way to train them further for specific uses. The performance comparisons are Cloudflare’s own measurements, so the models still need to be evaluated for each task.

The focus is on the next move, not just the answer

After the announcement, the discussion received more than 300 points on Hacker News and more than 170 votes in Reddit’s LocalLLaMA community. Much of the discussion focused on using AI to make a series of quick, small decisions instead of generating a long response every time.

For tasks such as sorting inquiries or classifying websites, AI that generates answers can work alongside AI that chooses actions. AI’s role is expanding from “speaking” to deciding the next move.

blog.cloudflare.com ↗ ↗

AI is starting to choose the next step at work.

What caught my attention about Clef today is that this is not about making AI’s answers longer.

Receive an inquiry. Work out whether it is urgent. Pass it to the right person.

These small decisions can now become part of a workflow. DigitalOcean’s Agent Droplets announcement also brought together a place for AI to run, along with memory and tools.

It feels like there is a change we might miss if we only think about opening an AI tool and asking it questions.

Within workflows built by people, AI can take in the situation and choose a way forward. It can hand things over to a person when needed. That back and forth could make services respond more naturally.

Our point of contact with AI is shifting from the screen where we read an answer to the moment work moves forward.

Claude Code / Anthropic

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www.anthropic.com ↗ ↗
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www.anthropic.com ↗ ↗

OpenAI / ChatGPT

Medium impactMedium signal
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news.synopsys.com ↗ ↗
Medium impactMedium signal
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openai.com ↗ ↗

AI Agents / Coding

Medium impactMedium signal
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investors.digitalocean.com ↗ ↗

AI INSIGHTS / KOHEI TORIGOE

Kohei Torigoe

AI Product Architect

Over 25 years in UI/UX design, product development and business development. Founded and led a company with a team of around 100 people.

Currently planning, designing and developing new products using AI.

Through AI Signal, I share discoveries from developing new products and the possibilities AI opens up for the future, while trying the latest AI technologies firsthand.

Profile, work and contact ↗

AI Video Generation

Medium impactMedium signal
Griffin: AI video that can nod and interrupt during a conversation
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www.tavus.io ↗ ↗

AI Music Generation

No new article was verified in this category today.

Foundation Models / Research

Medium impactMedium signal
OpenDLSS recreates AI rendering in Vulkan
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github.com ↗ ↗
Medium impactMedium signal
turbopuffer rethinks its search infrastructure beyond a vector first design
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turbopuffer.com ↗ ↗

AI Automation / Business Use

Medium impactMedium signal
UiPath AI agents can use external safety review services
In its October 1 update, UiPath introduced a preview feature that lets companies use their contracted external services for AI agent safety checks. Detection results and the service responsible are recorded in the execution history.
docs.uipath.com ↗ ↗

AI Insights