Booz Allen Hamilton launches AI ‘app store’
Government-focused tech consultancy Booz Allen Hamilton has launched an app store-type marketplace for artificial intelligence software products.
Entitled “Modzy,” the platform will allow clients to choose pre-trained AI models with pay-to-use licenses. Users will be able to select from an expanding list of AI models from tech companies, reducing the barriers to adopting and scaling AI.
“Until now, AI has primarily delivered custom model creation capabilities which tend to be one-off, time intensive, expensive, and experimental,” said Adelaide O’Brien, research director at IDC Government Insights.
Independent development also means that separate government agencies may develop similar algorithms – wasting money and resources. The database of models on the Modzy platform would allow agencies to better track and categorize models, while preventing unnecessary duplication.
Critically, Modzy will let government and commercial organizations more easily operationalize AI for their enterprises. According to research consultancy Gartner, operationalizing AI and machine learning for effective management and delivery of models is the biggest challenge currently faced by technical professionals.
Modzy was unveiled earlier this week at NVidia’s GPU Technology Conference in Washington, DC. Initial commercial partners delivering pre-trained AI models on the platform include Orbital Insight, CrowdAI, and Hypergiant.
“With Modzy, Booz Allen is challenging the idea that AI has to be custom-built for each department, project or purpose. By combining our deep domain and technical expertise with that of other leading AI providers, we’re helping the U.S. government and companies deploy AI at a fraction of the price and time required to build bespoke models from scratch,” Josh Sullivan, senior vice president, Booz Allen Hamilton and Modzy executive leader, said.
The marketplace platform will deliver plug-and-play solutions for engineers to easily integrate into front-end applications, while giving administrators control over how models are deployed and governed. The platform will also provide model transparency, including what dataset information was used to train the model (in order to vet applicability for different scenarios).
"The Modzy platform is one step closer to ensuring the government has the technology they need to protect the American people, when they need it, how they need it, and we are thrilled to apply our advanced AI capabilities to this marketplace,” Ben Lamm, CEO and founder of Hypergiant Industries, said. “Together we can help government and commercial customers securely adopt and transition to trusted AI models and solutions."
