Owen Sakawa, founder of Elloe AI, envisions his company as the “immune system for AI” and the “antivirus for any AI agent.” Speaking ahead of the TechCrunch Disrupt 2025 conference, where Elloe AI is a Top 20 finalist in the Startup Battlefield competition, Sakawa described a critical gap in today’s AI landscape: rapid development without sufficient safety mechanisms. “AI is evolving at a very fast pace, and it’s moving this fast without guard rails, without safety nets, without mechanisms to prevent it from ever going off the rails,” he said. Elloe AI is designed as an API or SDK that integrates directly into a company’s LLM pipeline, sitting on top of the model’s output layer like a protective infrastructure. Its core function is to fact-check every response generated by an AI system in real time. “It’s like a safety net that sits there, constantly verifying what the model says,” Sakawa explained. The platform operates through three distinct layers, or “anchors.” The first checks the LLM’s response against reliable, verifiable sources to detect inaccuracies or hallucinations. The second anchor scans for compliance risks, flagging outputs that might violate regulations such as HIPAA in the U.S. or GDPR in Europe, or that expose sensitive personal information (PII). The third anchor provides a full audit trail, recording the decision-making process behind each output—showing the source of information, the confidence level of each claim, and the logic used. This transparency allows regulators, internal teams, or auditors to trace how and why a particular response was generated. Importantly, Sakawa emphasized that Elloe AI is not built on a large language model. “Having LLMs check other LLMs is just putting a Band-Aid on another wound,” he said. Instead, the system leverages machine learning and other AI techniques, but relies on a hybrid approach that includes human oversight. Elloe AI’s team actively monitors emerging data privacy laws, regulatory changes, and ethical standards to ensure the platform stays current and effective. With AI systems increasingly deployed in high-stakes environments—from healthcare to finance—Sakawa believes robust safety infrastructure is no longer optional. Elloe AI aims to provide that foundation, helping organizations deploy AI responsibly and transparently. For those interested in seeing the platform in action, along with dozens of other innovative startups, keynote talks, and expert panels, the TechCrunch Disrupt 2025 conference will take place in San Francisco from October 27 to 29. More information is available on the event’s official website.