Artificial Intelligence as a Service: Trade-Offs Impacting Service Design and Selection

AI as a Service (AIaaS) is a promising path to leverage AI capabilities from the cloud. However, there is no one-size-fits-all service, but heterogenous service options since interdependent AIaaS characteristics require trade-offs. We lack knowledge on these trade-offs and how they result from conflicting characteristics. Therefore, we interviewed 39 AIaaS providers, customers, and consultants to provide rich descriptions of interdependent characteristics and uncover resulting trade-offs and their consequences. This study contributes to a better understanding of the inner functioning and interplay of AIaaS characteristics and discusses how this complex nature of service offerings impacts providers’ design and customers’ selection decisions.