The Vercel AI Gateway is now available for alpha testing, allowing developers to switch between ~100 AI models without managing API keys, rate limits, or provider accounts. Built on the AI SDK 5 alpha, the Gateway handles authentication, usage tracking, and will eventually include billing. The current speed of AI development requires frequent updates to model APIs in application code, which can be frustrating for developers. The Gateway aims to help ship fast and keep up with AI progress without needing multiple API keys and provider accounts. It also addresses production capacity issues by load balancing across providers and providing failover options. The Gateway is built on top of the AI SDK, which is free and open source, and will initially offer usage for free with rate limits based on Vercel plan tier, with plans for pay-as-you-go pricing when it reaches general availability.