Whether you want to develop your very own Artificial Intelligence (AI) model or use an existing publically available model (such as ChatGPT),it's likely you will use a cloud-based platform. The tools and applications provided by these platforms are known as "AI as a Service" (AIaaS) and most offer a free pricing tier for basic, limited use as well as subscriptions for higher volume or more sophisticated requirements. This is similar to how "Software as a Service" (Saas) and "Infrastructure as a Service" (IaaS) models work.
What AI As a Service Can be Used For
AIaaS can be useful for any organization that wants to extend their in-house Generative or Agentic AI capabailities without significant up-front investment. For example, a research team might want to employ AIaaS to analyze large datasets for patterns when their locally available computing power is inadequate, or a police force might employ AIaaS to process large amounts of images and video to search for and identify number plates or specific individuals. Small businesses commonly use AIaaS for customer service, secretarial and accounting tasks, but whatever your business needs there is almost certainly a service available.
The Benefits of AI as a Service
Once you've decided to use AI to either solve a problem in your organization or extend your capabilities, you will need to consider the benefits of outsourcing this to a third-party against having your own infrastructure:
- Cost-Effectiveness: Using a cloud-based service means you don't have to make any upfront investment in hardware or software infrastructure. Most platforms allow you to choose a pricing tier that suits your requirements, meaning you only pay for what you need.
- Speed of Deployment: AIaaS means you don't need to set up your own infrastrucutre and can get started on your project almost immediately.
- Scalability: Most providers allow you to change your pricing tier or subscription at a moment's notice, making it easy to scale your usage allowance to match the success of your product.
- Ease of Use: Very little background knowledge or training is required to start using most AIaaS providers, and indeed most understand plain English intructions.
- Future-Proof: Most AIaaS providers will take care of maintenance and software updates for you, meaning you always have the most advanced versions available to you.
Potential Problems of AI as a Service
As with any part of your business, relying on a third-party for potentially critical parts of your infrastructure can bring with it potential problems:
- Price Increases: There is a general feeling that the big AI companies might eventually need to increase their fees, so your own business model might need to change in future to reflect this.
- Dependency: If your business becomes completely dependent on the specific services of one provider, it could become very difficult to change if it becomes too expensive or if their services change.
- Data Security: If a AIaaS provider is embedded in your business systems you become completely reliant on them to keep your data and potentially the data of your customers secure.
Selecting a Provider
When considering a third-party AIaaS provider, it's important to consider how critical the service will be to you and how you would be able to cope with significant changes to either the pricing or the funcionality available. And with heightened concerns around the world about user privacy and data security, it's extremely important to consider how and where the third-party will store your data, what they will use it for, and how they will keep it secure - particularly if it will be accessing your customers' data.
