Data and AI solutions specialist SAS has unveiled a “breakthrough approach” to help organisations tackle business challenges head-on.
By introducing lightweight, industry-specific AI models for individual licenses, SAS hopes to provide organizations with ready-to-deploy AI technology to help them productize real-world use cases with unmatched efficiency.
“SAS is evolving its portfolio to meet a broad range of user needs with innovative new products and capture market share,” said Chandana Gopal, research director, Future of Intelligence, IDC.
“A promising area for SAS is to productize models built on SAS' core assets, people and IP gained from its extensive experience working with customers to solve industry problems.”
In today's market, model consumption is primarily focused on large language models (LLMs) for generative AI. In reality, LLMs represent only a small portion of real-world operational deployments of AI and enterprise decision-making modeling needs. With the new offering, SAS goes beyond LLMs to deliver industry-proven, deterministic AI models for industries across a range of use cases, including fraud detection, supply chain optimization, entity management, document conversations and healthcare payment integrity.
Unlike traditional AI implementations that are cumbersome and time-consuming, SAS industry-specific models are designed for rapid integration, helping organizations operationalize trusted AI technologies and accelerate the realization of tangible benefits and reliable results.
Expanding market size
Organizations are under pressure to compete effectively and are looking to gain an edge with AI. At the same time, a shortage of AI skills makes staffing data science teams more difficult than ever. As a result, businesses want the agility to solve problems using AI and need flexible AI solutions that rapidly produce business outcomes. SAS' easy-to-use, powerful model is tailored for the enterprise, so organizations can benefit from SAS' half-century of industry leadership.
Offering industry models as packaged products is one outcome of SAS' $1 billion commitment to AI-powered industry solutions. As outlined in a May 2023 announcement, the AI investment builds on SAS' decades-long focus on delivering packaged solutions to address challenges in industries such as banking, government and healthcare.
“The model is a perfect complement to our existing solutions and SAS Viya platform offerings, addressing the diverse business needs of different users and ensuring innovation reaches every corner of the ecosystem,” said Udo Sglavo, vice president of AI and analytics at SAS.
“Our framework enables companies to thrive in their unique environments by customizing our approach to understand the specific needs of their industry.”
Bringing AI to the masses
Starting with its AI assistant for warehouse space optimization, SAS is democratizing AI by providing ready-to-use, lightweight AI models, making AI accessible to anyone, regardless of their skillset. These assistants leverage technologies like large-scale language models to address the needs of non-technical users, seamlessly transforming interactions into optimized workflows and helping speed up planning decisions.
“The SAS model provides organizations with flexible, timely and accessible AI to address industry challenges,” said Sgvalo.
“Whether you're just getting started on your AI journey or looking to accelerate the scale of AI across your enterprise, SAS offers unmatched depth and breadth to address the unique needs of your business.”
The first SAS models are expected to be available to the public later this year.
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