Deploy generative AI models

Some generative AI models, such as Gemini, have managed APIs and are ready to accept prompts without deployment. For a list of models with managed APIs, see Foundational model APIs.

Other generative AI models must be deployed to an endpoint before they're ready to accept prompts. There are two types of generative models that must be deployed:

Tuned models, which you create by tuning a supported foundation model with your own data.
Generative models that don't have managed APIs. In the Model Garden, these are models that aren't labeled as API available or Vertex AI Studio—for example, Llama 2.

When you deploy a model to an endpoint, Vertex AI associates compute resources and a URI with the model so that it can serve prompt requests.

Deploy a tuned model

Tuned models are automatically uploaded to the Vertex AI Model Registry and deployed to a Vertex AI endpoint. Tuned models don't appear in the Model Garden because they are tuned with your data. For more information, see Overview of model tuning.

Once the endpoint is active, it is ready to accept prompt requests at its URI. The format of the API call for a tuned model is the same as the foundation model it was tuned from. For example, if your model is tuned on Gemini, then your prompt request should follow the Gemini API.

Make sure you send prompt requests to your tuned model's endpoint instead of the managed API. The tuned model's endpoint is in the format:

https://LOCATION-aiplatform.googleapis.com/v1/projects/PROJECT_ID/locations/LOCATION/endpoints/ENDPOINT_ID

To get the endpoint ID, see View or manage an endpoint.

For more information on formatting prompt requests, see the Model API reference.

Deploy a generative model that doesn't have a managed API

To use a model from the Model Garden that doesn't have a managed API, you must upload the model to Model Registry and deploy it to an endpoint before you can send prompt requests. This is similar to uploading and deploying a custom trained model for online prediction in Vertex AI.

To deploy one of these models, go to the Model Garden and select the model you'd like to deploy.

Go to Model Garden

Each model card displays one or more of the following deployment options:

Deploy button: Most of the generative models in the Model Garden have a Deploy button that walks you through deploying to Vertex AI. If you don't see a Deploy button, go to the next bullet.

For deployment on Vertex AI, you can use the suggested settings or modify them. You can also set Advanced deployment settings to, for example, select a Compute Engine reservation.

Note: Some models also support deployment to Google Kubernetes Engine which is an unmanaged solution that provides you even more control. For more information, see Serve a model with a single GPU in GKE.
Open Notebook button: This option opens a Jupyter notebook. Every model card displays this option. The Jupyter notebook includes instructions and sample code for uploading the model to Model Registry, deploying the model to an endpoint, and sending a prompt request.

Once deployment is complete and the endpoint is active, it is ready to accept prompt requests at its URI. The format of the API is predict and the format of each instance in the request body depends on the model. For more information, see the following resources:

Make sure you have enough machine quota to deploy your model. To view your current quota or request more quota, in the Google Cloud console, go to the Quotas page.

Go to Quotas

Then, filter by the quota name Custom Model Serving to see the quotas for online prediction. To learn more, see View and manage quotas.

Ensure capacity for deployed models with Compute Engine reservations

You can deploy Model Garden models on VM resources that have been allocated through Compute Engine reservations. Reservations help ensure that capacity is available when your model predictions requests need them. For more information, see Use reservations with prediction.

View or manage a model

For tuned models, you can view the model and its tuning job on the Tune and Distill page in the Google Cloud console.

Go to Tune and Distill

You can also view and manage all of your uploaded models in Model Registry.

Go to Model Registry

In Model Registry, a tuned model is categorized as a Large Model, and has labels that specify the foundation model and the pipeline or tuning job that was used for tuning.

Models that are deployed with the Deploy button will indicate Model Garden as its Source. Note that, if the model is updated in the Model Garden, your uploaded model in Model Registry is not updated.

For more information, see Introduction to Vertex AI Model Registry.

View or manage an endpoint

To view and manage your endpoint, go to the Vertex AI Online prediction page. By default, the endpoint's name is the same as the model's name.

Go to Online prediction

For more information, see Deploy a model to an endpoint.

Pricing

For tuned models, you are billed per token at the same rate as the foundation model your model was tuned from. There is no cost for the endpoint because tuning is implemented as a small adapter on top of the foundation model. For more information, see pricing for Generative AI on Vertex AI.

For models without managed APIs, you are billed for the machine hours that are used by your endpoint at the same rate as Vertex AI online predictions. You are not billed per token. For more information, see pricing for predictions in Vertex AI.