AI API
Programming interfaces that enable applications to access AI model capabilities through simple function calls.
Definition
AI APIs provide programmatic access to AI model capabilities without requiring model hosting or ML expertise. Developers send requests (prompts, images, audio) and receive AI-generated responses. Major providers include OpenAI, Anthropic, Google, and others.
API access democratizes AI, allowing any developer to integrate sophisticated capabilities. The tradeoff is dependency on providers and per-request costs that can scale with usage.
Why It Matters
AI APIs make advanced AI accessible to any organization with developers. You don't need ML expertise, GPU infrastructure, or training data—just an API key and programming ability.
Understanding API capabilities and limitations helps teams build effective applications. Different APIs have different strengths, pricing models, and policies that affect architecture decisions.
Examples in Practice
A startup builds their AI product entirely on API calls, reaching market in weeks rather than the months or years custom model development would require.
A company integrates multiple AI APIs—one for language, one for images, one for audio—creating a multimodal application that would be impossible to build in-house.
An enterprise evaluates AI APIs on factors beyond capability—data privacy, reliability, support—finding that the technically best option isn't right for their compliance requirements.