Lynx and Other Industry Leaders Launch the AI Deployment Gap Initiative to Advance Trusted AI for Mission-Critical Systems

Vendor-neutral initiative invites the AI ecosystem to help define best practices for deploying physical AI at the edge that is deterministic, governable, secure, and sustainable in real-world environments

SAN JOSE, Calif., Sept. 09, 2026 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Lynx, together with founding industry participants Critical Software, Edera, Metavonics, OmniTrust, PACE, RunSafe Security, and TASKING, today announced the launch of the AI Deployment Gap Initiative, a vendor-neutral coalition dedicated to advancing the deployment of trustworthy physical AI in mission-critical systems.

AI models keep improving at a rapid pace, but organizations deploying AI in aerospace, defense, robotics, industrial automation, transportation, critical infrastructure and other mission-critical domains face a separate problem entirely: getting those models to operate predictably, securely and sustainably under real-world constraints. Systems built for the lab don't automatically hold up in the field, and this initiative sets out to close that gap.

The initiative began with the publication of “Closing the AI Deployment Gap: A Manifesto for Deployable AI.” The manifesto lays out the principles of safe AI deployment while identifying four challenges the industry must address:

• Execution Gap - AI must execute deterministically and predictably.
• Integration Gap - AI must coexist with heterogeneous and mission-critical systems.
• Governance Gap - AI decisions must be observable, traceable, and accountable.
• Lifecycle Gap - AI must be maintainable, certifiable, and sustainable throughout long operational lifecycles.

The initiative sets a common engineering foundation that participating organizations agree is essential for deploying AI into systems where failure isn't an option. To close the gaps, participants are endorsing a shared set of engineering principles for deployable AI:

• Determinism by Design
• Observability by Default
• Integration Across the Stack
• Runtime Governance
• Security by Design
• Lifecycle-Ready Engineering
• Deployment as a First-Class Concern
• Ecosystem Collaboration

Beyond endorsing the manifesto, founding participants will collaborate on educational resources for the broader industry: deployment best practices, technical guidance, deployment-readiness frameworks, reference architectures, joint whitepapers, deployment blueprints, operational case studies and lessons learned from operational deployments. The goal is to help organizations move faster from AI innovation to trusted operational capability.

“The industry has spent the last decade learning how to build increasingly capable AI models,” said Tim Reed, CEO of Lynx. “The next decade will be defined by our ability to deploy those models into systems that must be trusted, governed, and sustained over years of operation. Closing the AI deployment gap requires collaboration across the entire ecosystem, and that's exactly what this initiative is intended to foster.”

“In safety-critical and mission-critical environments, trust must be engineered, not assumed. Dependable AI is not optional,” said João Galego, head of AI at Critical Software. “Every decision must be predictable, verifiable, and accountable, and every part of the ecosystem must be held to that same standard. That is why Critical Software is joining Lynx's AI Deployment Gap manifesto as a founding signatory, because closing that gap takes more than one company.” 

"No single company closes the AI deployment gap alone. The organizations building AI today are all running into the same wall — models that perform brilliantly in a lab and then have to survive years in the field, under real constraints, with real consequences if something breaks. That requires shared engineering principles, not competing standards. We're joining this initiative because the industry needs to align now, before deployment gaps become the reason mission-critical AI doesn't get trusted at all," said Emily Long, co-founder and CEO of Edera.

“Trusted AI is built on a continuous chain of trust, from the silicon inside connected devices, through the identities and enterprise systems that govern access and action, to the AI systems operating at the edge and the people who depend on them,” said Jonathan Mulieri, senior vice president of AI Lifecycle Management, OmniTrust. “Industry collaboration strengthens that chain through shared principles and practical approaches to security, governance, observability, resilience, and lifecycle assurance. We are proud to join the Lynx ecosystem initiative and contribute our experience to advancing physical AI that can be deployed, trusted, and sustained in the real world.” 
 
“The future of avionics will be shaped by the ability to deploy AI safely at the edge. Realizing this vision requires an open, certified platform that combines trusted airborne computing, a safety-assured AI execution environment, and an integrated development and certification toolchain,” said Mohamed Eladi, CEO at Metavonics. “At Metavonics, we have built the foundation with OpenMatrix^® and OpenBuilder^®, and are partnering across the ecosystem to accelerate that future.”

“At PACE, we are continuously exploring and developing new technologies that help to transform the aviation market,” said Andrea Bassi, Head of Embedded Graphics, PACE. “Bridging the gap between AI innovation and real-world deployment is essential to unlocking trusted, safe, and certifiable AI for mission-critical systems.” 

“The next era of AI will be defined not just by what models can do, but by where we can trust them to operate,” said Joseph M. Saunders, Founder and CEO of RunSafe Security. “As AI moves into the systems that power our infrastructure, industry, and national security, we have an opportunity to build a foundation where innovation and resilience advance together. This initiative is helping build that foundation, so that secure, resilient AI can become a dependable part of the world’s most critical systems.” 

“At TASKING, we believe the real value of AI in embedded software development is not simply generating code - it is helping engineers manage the complexity of verification and validation,” said Christoph Herzog, Co-CEO of TASKING. “By combining agentic AI with deterministic, qualified tools, developers can automate repetitive design, debugging, testing and analysis tasks while keeping humans in control of the final decisions. Bridging the deployment gap to making AI practical for safety- and security-critical systems is essential for accelerating development while preserving the traceability, evidence and engineering rigor these applications demand.”

The AI Deployment Gap Initiative is open to organizations across the AI ecosystem, such as silicon providers, platform and operating system vendors, AI framework developers, cybersecurity companies, system integrators, OEMs and end users who share a commitment to advancing deployable AI. 

Visit the AI Deployment Gap Initiative site often to gain useful insights, follow the growing number of participants, or join the movement at www.lynx.com/closing-the-ai-deployment-gap 

About Lynx
Lynx delivers a safe, secure, and modular software platform for edge computing in aerospace, defense, industrial, and autonomous mission-critical systems. Purpose-built for real-time, mixed-criticality environments, Lynx enables CPU- and GPU-based workloads, including AI, to coexist without interference on a single mission computer. Its MOSA-aligned architecture reduces certification scope, accelerates deployment, and sustains systems across 10- to 30-year lifecycles. Backed by decades of proven deployment on the world’s most demanding programs, Lynx enables engineers to build, certify, and deploy advanced mission-critical and AI-enabled applications across highly regulated industries. Visit www.lynx.com to learn more.

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