Headline: Hugging Face Launches New Service to Slash AI Costs
In a bid to make artificial intelligence (AI) technologies more accessible and cost-effective, Hugging Face announced the launch of a new open-source software service today. Developed in collaboration with Amazon.com and Google's Alphabet, this initiative aims to reduce the costs of creating chatbots and other AI systems.
The New York-based startup, valued at $4.5 billion, is recognized as a pivotal hub for AI software developers to exchange code. It plays a significant role in the distribution of open-source AI technologies like Meta Platforms' Llama. However, Hugging Face determined that adapting these AI models to run on hardware from companies like Nvidia and Advanced Micro Devices requires considerable additional effort.
To address this challenge, Hugging Face launched a subscription service called HUGS (Hugging Face for Generative AI Services) on Wednesday. HUGS simplifies the process by automatically configuring AI models to run on the necessary hardware. The service is available through Amazon and Google's cloud platforms for $1 per hour, and can also be accessed via the private cloud provider Digital Ocean. Additionally, companies have the option to deploy the Hugging Face service in their data centers.
HUGS enters a market where it will compete with commercial AI services from organizations like OpenAI and Google-backed Anthropic AI. Jeff Boudier, Hugging Face's head of product and growth, stated that the new offering aims to help businesses manage both the financial aspects of AI projects and data privacy. This is particularly crucial for industries with strict regulations concerning customer data, like finance and healthcare.
Boudier commented, "We are living in an anomaly where it's normal to outsource your AI technology to third parties and black-box systems. Yet, for as long as the tech industry has existed, companies have wanted to build, understand, and control their own technology. What we are trying to do is make it as easy as possible for a company to build its own AI using the best open models available."