IBM's Deep Learning as a Service uses the cloud to democratize AI for developers

At its Think 2018 conference in Las Vegas on Tuesday, IBM rolled out its Deep Learning as a Service (DLaaS) program for artificial intelligence (AI) developers. The service is available through Watson Studio, and is aimed at helping developers run hundreds of deep learning training models at the same time while building out their neural networks, according to a press release. The firm has been working on the service since at least the middle of last year, according to a white paper from IBM researchers. By using the power of the cloud to deliver AI capabilities like deep learning, IBM and other vendors that have similar services are democratizing access to these tools. Since companies won't have to build and maintain costly hardware to experiment with deep learning, it could mean more companies are able to leverage the power of AI in their own products and services.