AI as a Service (AIaaS) in the era of "buy not build" | Algolia

The Chief Technology Officer (CTO) of a company that has undergone significant digital transformation faces new challenges with the advent of Artificial Intelligence (AI). Traditional buy vs build decisions for software engineering have been made easier by talented in-house teams, but AI brings new considerations. Hiring and retaining top data science talent is difficult and expensive, and building an AI team from scratch can take years. Additionally, companies often lack the scale of data needed to train models effectively. The rapid pace of AI development makes it challenging for internal teams to keep up with the latest research and advancements. Lastly, running AI systems in production requires specialized reliability engineering and high-speed real-time data pipelines that many organizations cannot afford or manage. Therefore, buying an AI solution from a vendor can provide competitive advantage by leveraging their talent, speed, insights, system reliability, and ability to scale with demand spikes.