AI Outsourcing: Everything You Need to Know in 2025

The world is undergoing a rapid AI transformation, with no signs of slowing down. In 2024, the global AI market was valued at $391 billion—an increase of $195 billion from 2023.

Once concentrated in the tech industry, demand for AI is now expanding across diverse sectors, including construction, healthcare, and manufacturing. 

However, a shortage of AI talent has led many companies to turn to AI outsourcing – a reliable and cost-effective way to access top AI expertise and integrated teams capable of delivering functional AI solutions on demand.

In this article, we explore the nuances of AI outsourcing, outline the services offered by AI outsourcing companies, and share best practices for selecting and collaborating with a custom AI development company. 

Why outsource AI development?

The demand for AI skills has skyrocketed in the last two years, yet the talent pool remains limited. With AI investments expected to surpass $550 billion, the need for skilled professionals is growing faster than the available workforce. As a result, nearly half of all required AI positions could go unfilled.

Faced with this reality, businesses must determine the most effective strategy to build AI capabilities. Some choose to hire AI-skilled employees, competing in an increasingly tight labor market. Others rely on contractors to fill short-term gaps or outsource AI development to specialized providers around the world. 

Benefits of AI outsourcing for businesses

AI outsourcing provides several significant benefits compared to in-house hiring. 

• Availability of AI talent. Local AI talent is often scarce and the competition for AI experts is high. AI outsourcing allows businesses to get access to global AI talent with proven experience in building AI solutions. 

• Cost-effectiveness. In North America and Western Europe, hiring AI engineers and experts is costly. Outsourcing provides a more affordable alternative due to less complex labor regulations, tax rates, and market conditions. 

• Comprehensive support. Many businesses outside of the tech and finance sector do not have dedicated IT development departments. AI outsourcing teams can provide a full package of development services, including the analysis of business requirements, project management, and post-release support. 

• Scalability and flexibility. Outsourcing allows businesses to scale AI initiatives up or down based on demand. This allows clients to quickly assemble dedicated teams, adjust resources as needed, and adapt to changing project requirements. 

These benefits are rapidly fueling the demand for AI outsourcing. At Apiko, for example, we have witnessed a surge in demand for custom AI development during 2024, and expect it to continue in 2025.

Services offered by AI outsourcing vendors

AI outsourcing vendors typically provide a wide array of development services. Some of the most in-demand services include:

Chatbot and AI voice agent development

AI chatbots and AI voice agents are used to improve customer service and provide personalized user interactions. These solutions use natural language processing to understand and generate human-like responses. Popular applications include virtual assistants and customer support bots. AI chatbots can also be connected to internal databases to quickly retrieve company-specific data from various types of documents.

Computer vision software development

Computer vision enables machines to analyze and interpret visual data for various industries, including security, healthcare, and retail. The most common applications include:

• Emotion detection solutions, which can identify emotions from facial expressions in images and videos. 

• Image recognition solutions, which recognize objects, faces, and patterns in photos. 

• Video and audio analysis solutions, which monitor activity, detect anomalies, and extract insights from live or recorded video and audio streams.

AI documentation software development

AI-driven document processing helps to improve efficiency in administrative workflows. AI document solutions process various document types, including text, images, and handwriting. 

This allows businesses to automate the collection of structured data from invoices, contracts, and forms, and use AI to categorize, summarize, and process complex documents. At Apiko, we have developed an AI solution for a construction company that effectively retrieves information from internal company databases, helping stakeholders make accurate construction estimations. 

AI MVP/POC development services

Most businesses try to validate the feasibility of their AI projects and test them on the market before diving into full-scale development. Proof of Concept and MVP development services are designed precisely for these tasks. 

• Proof of Concept helps businesses assess technical feasibility of the project. It’s a process of validating whether the project can be implemented and the amount of time and resources needed for implementation. 

• AI MVP development, the next stage of the process, focuses on building rapid prototypes to test AI applications in the market before full-scale deployment. 

These early-stage AI development services allow businesses to experiment with AI solutions, reduce risks, and refine their strategies before making significant investments in large-scale implementation. 

AI consulting

For businesses that are new to AI, consulting services provide the necessary expertise to navigate the complexities of AI adoption. 

AI consultants assess the maturity of a company's AI transformation and identify areas where AI and machine learning can create value. They help to formulate AI strategies, develop new AI-driven products or services, and implement pilot projects. This allows businesses to avoid common pitfalls and apply industry best practices to maximize the benefits of AI integration.

Downsides of AI outsourcing

Outsourcing AI development also comes with some risks, mainly related to the unreliability of certain providers. Some of the key risks associated with outsourcing include: 

• Cybersecurity risks. Outsourcing AI development inevitably includes the transfer of business data to a third-party provider. Without proper protection in place, data leaks can lead to financial losses, reputational damage, and regulatory issues. 

• Quality issues. Partnering with an unreliable custom AI development company can result in a solution that falls short of expectations. This can cause delays, budget overruns, and possible software vulnerabilities. 

• Management problems. Without a well-structured management approach, teams may struggle with unclear responsibilities, shifting project requirements, and inefficient workflows. 

Most of the downsides and challenges of AI development outsourcing can be resolved by partnering with a reliable AI software development provider and following the best practices of cooperation in AI development. 

How to choose a reliable AI custom software development partner

Selecting a reliable software development partner is a responsible and important step. Here are some key tips to help you find the perfect match. 

• Preparing project requirements. Before starting to look for a software development partner, gather the general requirements for an AI solution – key features, supported platforms, and approximate budget. This will help you find a partner that has sufficient expertise in building the type of AI solutions you need. 

• Finding potential vendors. Look for vendors on Clutch. It’s a leading site for leaving confirmed reviews on software development providers. Pay attention to whether the company has reviews on projects similar to yours. Apiko, for instance, has 50 positive reviews from real clients over the past 6 years. Another good practice is to ask your LinkedIn connections or team members for recommendations. 

• Assessing potential vendors. Assess the vendors according to your requirements. Does the vendor have real experience implementing similar solutions? Can the vendor scale the team if needed? Verify the information yourself and contact potential vendors directly for more details. 

To learn more about choosing your AI software development partner, check out our article on IT vendor outsourcing – we have discussed these and other key issues of outsourcing vendor management there. 

Best practices of AI development outsourcing

Here are some best practices to help you make the process of cooperation with your AI vendor smooth and problem-free. 

Start small

Before diving in with full-scale investments, it’s important to test whether your idea is feasible. This is particularly suitable for AI projects, since the provider can provide a fast prototype to validate your idea and help you decide on further course of action. 

At Apiko, for example, we provide our clients with key deliverables that set the stage for successful development. Together with the client, we define the product vision and business goals, create a backlog – a list of functionality with the product should contain, make decisions on software architecture and tech stack, and create wireframes of key user flows. 

Share knowledge

A communication gap can hinder the efficiency of outsourced projects. It is highly important to provide an outsourcing team with the necessary resources to understand the specificities of the project. When necessary, give teams access to internal resources such as shared repositories for code, data, and technical documentation. 

Another important aspect is hosting regular collaborative sessions – this includes sprint reviews, retrospectives, and workshops. Following an Agile approach to development helps both the team and the client continuously exchange information and stay on the same page regarding the project's development. 

Measure performance with the right metrics

Selecting appropriate metrics is essential for tracking progress and ensuring that both technical and business objectives are met. Work with the vendor to identify key performance indicators (KPIs) that capture technical metrics (e.g., model accuracy, error rates) as well as business outcomes (e.g., adoption rates, productivity gains). 

Sharing these metrics regularly enables both sides to adjust strategies and ensures that the partnership remains focused on delivering tangible results. 

For instance, during the development of an AI construction estimating solution, our team has tried and tested several alternative ways to achieve the model accuracy requested by the client. 

Case studies: successful AI outsourcing projects

In 2024, Apiko worked on multiple AI outsourcing projects – and here are some of our most important successes. 

AI for project management

Hive is a leading SaaS project management platform and our long-standing development partner. In 2024, we developed an AI helper Buzz for Hive.

Buzz empowers users to create projects and add initial tasks simply by chatting with it. It can schedule activities, suggest tasks, and even manage emails by filtering out unimportant messages and generating email topics and texts. Additionally, Buzz creates various content types, from images to step-by-step guides, which helps to streamline routine project management tasks.

AI for construction estimating

In 2024, we partnered with Spawglass Construction Corp, a U.S. full-cycle construction provider to develop an AI chatbot for construction estimating. 

Spawglass Construction Corp faced challenges with slow, tedious construction estimating due to scattered historical data. Our team restructured their labor, materials, equipment, and productivity data into a coherent knowledge base and developed an AI construction estimating chatbot. This tool allows to retrieve essential historical information in seconds, which simplifies estimators’ workflows and allows them to submit faster, more competitive bids. 

AI for restaurants

Last year, our team developed an AI voice agent system that automates customer service for sectors like restaurants and hotels. Trained on extensive customer data and brand-specific prompts, the system handles a range of queries – from simple orders to complex tasks – while mimicking a company’s unique tone and key phrases. 

In one implementation at a pizzeria chain, the AI voice agents managed over 3,000 calls in two months, taking thousands of orders and boosting revenue with a high upsell conversion rate. The solution handles multiple calls simultaneously and integrates with existing systems, which allows businesses to significantly reduce service costs and enhance customer engagement. 

Conclusion

AI outsourcing is an excellent alternative to hiring an in-house AI development team. Outsourcing provides superior flexibility and identical quality of output while saving significant costs to your business. 

As an AI software development company, we have extensive experience in developing AI solutions – from AI chatbots to sound recognition projects. If you have a project in mind, don’t hesitate to contact us – our team is always ready for new challenges!