What is Model-as-a-Service (MaaS)?

Model-as-a-Service (MaaS) is a delivery approach where a centralized platform hosts AI models, providing AI developers and applications with on-demand access to those models.

Think of MaaS as an internal service desk for software development. Much like an IT department manages shared resources, MaaS allows organizations to host AI models centrally. As Red Hat’s release describes, this approach lets IT teams act as providers, giving development teams on-demand access to common models. This can help manage costs and support specific use cases that may be unsuitable for public AI services due to privacy or data concerns.

The Red Hat release describes one particular MaaS implementation; it does not define a universal business model, infrastructure setup, API standard, or pricing structure for every MaaS offering. The grounded takeaway from this example is that common models can be served centrally and made available on demand.