Artificial Intelligence is no longer emerging—it has emerged. From AI copilots in code editors to autonomous agents that automate entire workflows, software development is undergoing a fundamental shift. As powerful as this transformation is, it brings with it a serious challenge: compute infrastructure.

Training models, running inference, fine-tuning embeddings—these tasks demand significant resources. For most developers, this means wrestling with limited hardware or unpredictable cloud bills. But there's a better way: virtualized cloud development environments.

In this article, we explore how cloud-based virtual machines (VMs) are unlocking access to modern AI development, and why forward-thinking teams are turning to platforms like Raff to get ahead.

The Acceleration of AI in Software Development

AI adoption is no longer a niche trend—it’s a strategic investment across industries. Consider the following:

• Over 55% of companies have integrated AI into at least one business function (McKinsey, 2024)

• Generative AI is projected to become a $1.8 trillion global market by 2030

• Developers increasingly rely on models like GPT, LLaMA, and Mistral to enhance code quality, automate workflows, and generate new features

The problem is not AI's potential—it's access. The barrier to entry often lies in local hardware limitations, setup complexity, or high cloud infrastructure costs.

Why Cloud VMs Are Enabling the Next Generation of Builders

Cloud VMs provide on-demand, scalable infrastructure that levels the playing field for developers, students, and teams working with AI.

On-Demand Compute Power

Developers can launch machines tailored to their use case—whether it's training a model, running a notebook, or deploying an AI agent—without needing to own or manage expensive hardware.

Preconfigured Environments

Instead of spending hours configuring drivers and dependencies, users can start building immediately. Access to pre-installed environments with popular frameworks like PyTorch, TensorFlow, JupyterLab, and CUDA is becoming the norm.

Consistent, Reproducible Results

With cloud-based environments, configuration drift becomes a thing of the past. Developers can easily share, resume, or replicate environments across teams or devices.

Scalable by Design

Whether you're an individual prototyping a model or a startup deploying AI at scale, cloud VMs make it easy to scale up or down as needed—without infrastructure overhead.

How Developers Are Using Raff Today

At Raff, we’ve seen users across industries build real-world applications using cloud VMs:

• Fine-tuning large language models (LLMs) for niche tasks

• Running GPU-accelerated notebooks for ML training and experimentation

• Deploying backend inference systems with minimal setup

• Enabling bootcamp students to run intensive workloads on lightweight hardware

• Rapid prototyping of AI features for startup MVPs

This confirms a growing need for infrastructure that is flexible, cost-effective, and designed for builders, not corporations.

Why Raff is a Strategic Choice for AI Developers

Raff is built with one goal in mind: give every developer access to production-grade infrastructure—without the complexity or cost of legacy cloud providers.

With Raff, developers can:

• Launch virtual machines in seconds

• Choose from optimized templates for AI, DevOps, or general-purpose development

• Predict costs with flat-rate pricing

• Start immediately with $200 in free credits

We believe that infrastructure should accelerate innovation, not restrict it.