Civo launches relaxAI API to boost UK data sovereignty in AI
Civo has launched the relaxAI API, offering UK organisations an OpenAI-compatible solution for generative AI while maintaining data control and regulatory compliance within the UK.
The relaxAI API enables developers to leverage models such as Llama 4 Maverick 17B-128E, DeepSeek R1 0528 and Mistral-7b-embedding, allowing for integration of features like code generation, sentiment analysis, and advanced reasoning into established workflows. The infrastructure underpinning the service is based entirely in UK data centres, ensuring AI processing remains subject to UK legal jurisdiction.
Demand for data sovereignty
This launch comes as scrutiny of foreign cloud and AI platforms increases, particularly in the wake of policy discussions on digital sovereignty and stricter regulatory frameworks such as the EU's AI Act. Insights from a recent Civo survey indicate that concerns over data ownership run deep, with 67% of 1,006 UK IT leaders indicating a willingness to use AI services only if they had complete certainty about control of both data inputs and outputs.
To address these concerns, the relaxAI API offers end-to-end encryption, multi-factor authentication, and is fully compliant with GDPR, SOC 2, CyberEssentials Plus, and ISO-27001 standards. Deployment options range from cloud-based to on-premises and hybrid environments, providing flexibility to meet organisational preferences and security needs.
Integration and compatibility
The relaxAI API stands out as one of the few services hosting Llama 4 Maverick, DeepSeek R1 and Mistral-7b-embedding within the UK. It is designed for compatibility with over 20 widely-used frameworks and industry-standard tools, including LangChain, LlamaIndex, GPT4All, and Rasa, making integration into existing workflows direct for developers and enterprises.
Josh Mesout, Chief Innovation Officer at Civo, spoke about the demand for such a solution and the driving philosophy behind relaxAI:
"The UK tech ecosystem has been crying out for an AI platform that combines ease of integration with absolute clarity on data ownership. With relaxAI, we're offering developers and enterprises the best of both worlds: world-class AI capabilities with the guarantees of domestic infrastructure and compliance. Our goal is to make sovereign AI not just secure, but simple. Developers shouldn't have to choose between compliance and capability. With relaxAI, they don't have to."
Access and pricing
The relaxAI API is currently available to relaxAI Free and Plus users in General Availability. UK-based deployments are priced from GBP £0.10 per million input tokens and GBP £0.60 per million output tokens. This is positioned as a fraction of the cost of comparable models provided by global cloud and AI platforms such as AWS, Google, and OpenAI.
According to Civo, this pricing and the service's local hosting are designed to reduce the entry barriers for UK organisations that wish to implement generative AI, while ensuring confidence in data locality and compliance responsibilities.
The survey that shaped the direction of relaxAI's development included responses from IT Leaders across the United Kingdom, conducted between April 14 and April 29, 2025. This feedback revealed an industry-wide perception that data sovereignty and explicit control over data are crucial requirements for adopting new AI tools and services.
Security features, compliance certifications, and a sovereign infrastructure are central to the new platform. The product provides organisations with options to tailor their deployment to their unique regulatory needs, including support for both public and private deployments.
The introduction of the relaxAI API provides UK enterprises and developers with a means to integrate AI tools into their existing systems while maintaining oversight, potentially contributing to the wider acceptance and implementation of AI technologies across sectors that are sensitive to data residency and compliance obligations.
