Vercel AI Updates: October 2, 2026

1. Microsoft’s MAI Voice and Transcription Models Arrive on AI Gateway

Vercel. AI Gateway now serves three Microsoft AI audio models: microsoft/mai-voice-2.1 for speech generation in 23 languages with a consistent speaker voice, microsoft/mai-voice-2.1-flash for lower-latency synthesis aimed at voice agents, and microsoft/mai-transcribe-2-streaming, which returns partial transcripts while audio is still arriving. The models are callable through AI SDK 7’s speech and transcription APIs, with MP3 output and 16 kHz, 16-bit PCM input. Gateway bills them at Microsoft’s listed rates with no platform markup. Source

2. Convai Innovations’ Laya Decision Model Lands on AI Gateway, Free Through October 31

Vercel. AI Gateway added Laya from Convai Innovations, a decision model that evaluates shared context against yes/no, choice, or scoring questions and returns structured answers with probabilities, targeting support triage, workflow routing, policy compliance checks, and rubric scoring. It is available as convaiinnovations/laya and convaiinnovations/laya-free through the AI SDK evaluation API, a plain HTTP API, and the TypeSafe-compatible API. Requests served through the Boundless provider are free through October 31, 2026, after which the -free variant stops serving and the standard ID begins billing. Source