News

Startup Sway AI Launches No-Code Dev Platform

• By John K. Waters
• 02/21/2022

Startup artificial intelligence toolmaker Sway AI has launched a no-code AI platform it claims will allow any user to build and maintain AI solutions without writing a single line of code.

Aimed at enterprise users and data scientists, Sway AI is a no-code, visual development platform that combines a business-user interface, a marketplace of pre-built applications, enterprise collaboration features, and an open and extensible architecture. The platform effectively offers "built-in expertise," the company says, through its prebuilt library of end-to-end AI workflows."

The Sway AI platform's workflow engine orchestrates the majority of AI tasks automatically to support three types of users, or "personas:" Business Users, who may engage in some form of data analysis, but are not machine learning (ML) or data science experts; Technical Non-AI Users, who software engineers or domain-specific Subject Matter Experts (SMEs) with no AI expertise; and Technical AI Users, who are the ML practitioners typically working with non-technical business stakeholders to deliver AI models and solutions. Business Users rely on the platform's prebuilt library of end-to-end AI workflows. The platform guides Technical Users through the process of building and deploying workflows via its drag-and-drop interface. Technical AI Users get the benefits of a shared platform, which simplifies collaboration among domain experts and AI experts, "reducing the most common cause of AI project failures."

The problem the company is seeking to solve with its namesake platform—high barriers to entry, primarily expensive upfront investments in AI tools or skillsets—can make it difficult for enterprises to use AI without large data science teams and multi-million-dollar budgets. It's the reason an estimated 85% (Gartner) of AI projects are never deployed.

"AI development often involves consultants, RFPs, engineers, and other costly third-parties that often complicate the problem and add risk," said company co-founder and Executive Chairman Hassan Ahmed. "We make sense of the complex and rapidly evolving AI ecosystem to put AI in the hands of business users."

The platform's collaboration features were designed to engage business stakeholders and domain experts throughout the AI development cycle, with the aim of improving business alignment, reducing risk, and driving increased ROIs. Through this engagement, explained Amir Atai, Sway AI CEO and co-founder, data scientists and AI experts can collaborate with stakeholders to build prototypes faster and reduce time-to-deployment.

"This platform accelerates large enterprises’ data science teams by helping them rapidly prototype their models," Atai said in a statement. "Our platform offers unmatched levels of transparency and collaboration with enterprise stakeholders, which can make all the difference to the success of an AI strategy."

Chelmsford, MA-based Sway AI is building a growing pipeline of enterprise customers "looking to build AI solutions quickly," Atai said.