Keeping AI Infrastructure Costs Down with API Governance
Tags: ai, webdev, api
Published: 2023-12-01 23:08:53

The growing importance of AI in business is undeniable, with more than [50% of businesses](https://www.forbes.com/advisor/business/software/ai-in-business/) employing artificial intelligence for security and combating fraud. Additionally, beyond the practical applications for businesses externally, AI can be used internally to deliver better customer experiences through competitive tools and features. As the role of AI within an API business’ operations expands, so do the associated AI infrastructure costs. These expenses can quickly become a significant financial burden if left unchecked. Like all outward facing API-based tools, the key to success is API governance. 

That's where API governance steps in as a way of managing infrastructure costs and avoiding financial setbacks of monumental proportions. API governance allows an organization to regulate and optimize how AI resources and services are accessed and utilized, ensuring that businesses can offer an AI solution and features without breaking the bank. Governance serves as a strategic framework for controlling expenses in an effort to maintain the quality and reliability of offered AI implementation within services and solutions.

## Understanding AI Infrastructure Cost

AI infrastructure costs are a significant consideration for businesses considering offering artificial intelligence solutions. These costs typically stem from three primary factors: data storage and processing, model training and deployment, and infrastructure management.

### Data Storage and Processing

Data management can be a substantial financial burden, as AI models often require many datasets, requiring efficient or vast storage solutions and powerful processing capabilities. This can be a large cost investment for businesses, as non-AI based solutions pivoting towards AI likely will not inherently have the capability to manage the volume of data required for an AI project. 

### Model Training and Deployment

Model training and deployment costs quickly add up, as they involve the computational power required to develop and deploy an AI model (or, more likely, multiple generative AI models). This process can strain a company's finances, especially if frequent model updates are needed due to data drift, bug fixes or optimizations, or even changes in regulations.

### Infrastructure Management

The need for infrastructure management adds to overall expense, as businesses must ensure that their chosen AI system(s) can handle an increase in queries. This requires an optimization of resource allocation, and maintaining infrastructure to support AI products, which can be costly to manage.

In the realm of AI technology, cost optimization is not just a financial concern; it's a strategic imperative. As a business increasingly relies on AI features and products to drive growth, cost efficiency becomes a major business goal. Without a proper AI cost optimization strategy, AI development can quickly become unsustainable financial endeavors that can financially cripple an organization’s growth efforts.

To maintain profitability, organizations must continually assess and streamline their AI infrastructure costs through budget allocation, efficient resource utilization, and a concerted focus on eliminating unnecessary expenditures. Cost optimization not only ensures that an AI application remain financially viable but also allows businesses to direct their resources towards new features/products, research, and other strategic initiatives, ultimately maximizing the value AI can bring to the organization. By understanding that computing power will add to your overall artificial intelligence cost, you can optimize your internal business processes.

## What is API Governance?

API governance refers to a structured framework or set of practices that dictate how APIs are deployed and managed within an organization. Governance consists of policies, procedures, and standards that “govern” the use of APIs (internally and externally) to ensure consistency, security, and compliance around more than just AI initiatives. API governance allows businesses to regulate how their software components, data, and services interact with one another or with external integrations, providing a roadmap for API development and usage.

API governance is of particular value in the realm of artificial intelligence. In an AI product, where data and models are often shared across applications and platforms, having a well-defined API governance strategy should be the cornerstone of any AI API product plan. Governance ensures that AI resources are used effectively and responsibly by employees internally and paying customers externally, enabling a financially-motivated approach to API development, deployment, and maintenance. By setting clear guidelines for AI APIs, businesses can foster interoperability, data security, and compliance with industry standards.

Because the relationship between AI and APIs is symbiotic, robust API governance can help businesses strike a balance between offering an API product with AI capability, and controlling access to AI assets. It not only streamlines the integration of AI capabilities into external applications but also ensures that AI services are secure and align with the broader goals of your organization.

## The Benefits of API Governance for Cost Control

API governance plays a major role in controlling the costs associated with AI infrastructure by providing several essential benefits through analytics insight. 

Governance frameworks ensure efficient resource allocation. AI models often require significant computational resources. With proper governance, organizations can allocate these resources optimally, preventing over-provisioning or underutilization. This process can be cost saving through means of eliminating wasteful spending on unnecessary infrastructure.

API governance also is used to enable monitoring and management of API usage by customers. By closely tracking how APIs are utilized, businesses can identify [usage patterns](https://www.moesif.com/blog/engineering/api-monitoring/The-Difference-Between-Synthetic-API-Monitoring-and-API-Real-User-Monitoring/?utm_campaign=DevTo&utm_source=placed-article&utm_medium=body-cta&utm_content=AI-infrastructure-costs), bottlenecks, and potential areas for optimization. This real-time insight into API usage helps organizations make data-driven decisions, ensuring that they are investing in the right places to achieve their data science objectives effectively.

Furthermore, API governance serves as a guard against unauthorized access and misuse. It establishes access controls, authentication mechanisms, and security measures that protect sensitive AI assets from unauthorized users and potential data breaches. 

API governance can be used to enhance AI product management. With facilitated version control, documentation, ensure that AI models remain up-to-date, reliable, and cost-efficient over time. Effective lifecycle management and user analytics prevent the accumulation of obsolete models that drain resources without delivering value and reduce the risk of costly errors resulting from poorly managed model updates. 

## Best Practices for Implementing API Governance

Implementing API governance is the [key to maintaining control](https://www.moesif.com/blog/api-monetization/api-strategy/How-to-Enforce-API-Usage-Policies/?utm_campaign=DevTo&utm_source=placed-article&utm_medium=body-cta&utm_content=AI-infrastructure-costs), security, and efficiency for any API product, but particularly for  AI operations. These policies should define who has access to AI resources, what they can do with them, and under what circumstances. Some guiding principles of API governance: 

- **Establish Clear API Usage Policies**: Create transparent policies that define who can access AI resources, what they can do with them, and under what conditions.
- **Utilize Rate Limiting and Throttling**: Set limits on API usage to prevent resource overconsumption and employ throttling to maintain consistent service quality internally and externally.
- **Authentication and Access Controls**: Implement strong authentication mechanisms and access controls to protect AI data and resources from unauthorized access and misuse with API keys, OAuth2 tokens, etc. 
- **Monitoring and Reporting Regularly**: Continuously monitor API usage, performance, and security, and generate reports to detect anomalies, spot trends, and address issues promptly.
- **API Versioning and Deprecation Strategies**: Develop strategies to manage API versions effectively, ensuring the [orderly transition](https://www.moesif.com/blog/api-product-management/deprecation/How-to-Properly-Deprecate-an-API-Using-Moesif?utm_campaign=DevTo&utm_source=placed-article&utm_medium=body-cta&utm_content=AI-infrastructure-costs) from older, potentially inefficient APIs to newer, optimized ones while maintaining compatibility.

## Challenges and Pitfalls

API governance, while vital for the efficient management of AI infrastructure, is not without its challenges and potential pitfalls. There are two prominent issues that organizations face: data security and compliance concerns. Beyond the delicate equilibrium of cost control and performance optimization data security and compliance concerns are hugely important. Proper API governance must prioritize data protection, privacy, and compliance with regulatory standards, like GDPR or HIPAA. Striking the right balance between enabling access for AI-driven tasks and safeguarding data integrity is a challenge that demands extensive planning.

Additionally, a balance between cost control and performance can be challenging to achieve. Organizations need to allocate resources optimally and strategically to ensure AI systems operate without overspending or under delivering. However, an overly cost-centric approach can compromise performance and severely impact user experience.Treading carefully is essential to maximize the value of an AI infrastructure while maintaining financial sustainability for your organization at large. To navigate these challenges, companies must adopt an approach to API governance that integrates security, compliance, cost-efficiency, and performance optimization.