Affordable custom AI development

[DGoldman]

What AI tools are you using? Because I am constantly running into the same problem with AI tools. The cheap SaaS options are everywhere. But for a specific business use case, those generic apps are just not customized enough for us to use effectively. The opposite problem is hiring an agency for custom AI development. Even small projects instantly cost more than $60k. That budget is too high for the work we need to do. But my colleague found a website offering to implement a custom AI free of charge. The idea is that you only pay based on how much you use the tool later. This basically means they take on all the development cost risk upfront. That sounds like an amazing deal for smaller businesses. So has anyone in this group actually used a pay as you go AI service like this? What are the best ways to get a custom solution without spending a huge amount of money?

 

[5alm0nberry]

@DGoldman for smaller budget, you can look for AI freelancers or small boutique studios on freelancer platform. You can often get an MVP (Minimum Viable Product) built for $10k-$20k.
The trick is to have your business need hyper specific so they don't have to build a giant, complex model from scratch. What exactly is your use case?

 

[Mekano phillip]

I’ve seen a few startups offer it to build their portfolio or lock in long term users, you have to check how they handle ownership of the model and data, because some of them keep the IP. Also keep an eye on usage pricing, it can go up fast if your adoption grows

 

[Alan]

@DGoldman I’ve seen a few startups do the pay-as-you-go model to build their portfolio. Just make sure you check IP ownership and watch the usage pricing. It can get expensive fast if adoption grows.