Understanding AI-as-a-Service

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You have probably heard of SaaS or Software as a Service. But have heard of AIaaS? AIaaS refers to Artificial Intelligence as a Service. It is a new service offering that has become popular thanks to the growth of Artificial Intelligence. Since AI is new, it is challenging for businesses to use AI.

AIaaS is a service offered by technology companies. If you are running a business, you can use AIaaS to implement AI in your organization. It is a great way of using the power of AI in a cost-effective way. 

What is AIaaS?

AIaaS is ‘Artificial Intelligence as a service’. It involves making use of AI tools available off the shelf. Using this service allows businesses to implement AI in their work in an effective way without having to invest too much money. AI is popular today, but it has been around for a long time. 

Traditionally, AI has been expensive and there are reasons for it. AI required huge investments in hardware (specialized hardware was needed). AI programmers were expensive since there were very few of them. It was a new field about which not much was known.

Even today, using AI from scratch is expensive. This explains why AIaaS has developed. AI is big business, and it is estimated that by 2024, spending on AI will increase to $110 billion. For a company to implement AI, they need to build their own cloud. They also need AI systems. Creating this is expensive and involves not only money but also a lot of effort. AIaaS makes AI easily available to businesses.

Why use AIaaS?

AIaaS is a service just like software as a service. It offers many benefits for businesses that include:

• – It allows the business to focus on its core work while getting AI services from experts in the field.
• – A lot of money is needed to implement AI from scratch. All this money can be saved by using AIaaS.
• – The reduced costs bring with them immense benefits. The benefits are worth the expenses spent, which is a small fraction of the costs involved in creating your own systems.
• – AIaaS helps you get immense benefits. You can use your data in the most effective way to improve your business.
• – You get off-the-shelf AI tools that you can easily customize and use for your business.
• – AIaaS offers you flexibility while using AI. You can use the services you need and pay for them.
• – Creating AI solutions is not easy. It is a better idea to use ready solutions created by experts.
• – Scalability is another great benefit of AIaaS. You can scale the service by starting small and then increasing its use.

Challenges using AIaaS

There are some challenges that have to be addressed when you use AIaaS:

• – Since AI works with data, you may have to share the data with third parties. It is a security issue that must be handled in the right way.
• – You rely on third parties to work with your data and provide you with the information you need. If they are not reliable, then the information you get may not help you.
• – When you use AIaaS, you are getting the service but don’t get access. You won’t know how it works. Less transparency can lead to problems.

AIaaS types

The following information will help you understand the types of AIaaS and how to use them:

1) Chatbots and digital assistants

A popular application of AI is using chatbots to interact with your customers. The chatbots make use of Natural Language Processing (NLP) algorithms. The algorithm allows the chatbot to converse with humans and learn from the experience.

2) APIs

Application Programming Interfaces or APIs are popularly used to help services communicate with each other. The use of AI helps to create cognitive APIs. They can be used for translation, detecting emotions, knowledge mapping, etc.

3) ML frameworks

ML or Machine Learning frameworks are tools that learn over a period by studying data. An ML framework offers many benefits to companies that need not have to use Big Data. 

4) Fully managed services

Fully managed ML services are offered as a part of AIaaS. It brings with it ready templates to use, models, and drag-drop tools. Using these services can help you create a customized machine-learning framework.

What does the future hold?

AIaaS is highly beneficial since it allows companies to use AI without investing heavily in it. AIaaS is fast-growing and is being used in many sectors. We can soon expect its use to be common across sectors. Businesses can use it to maximize productivity and get a better ROI.