18.2 Scalability

Scalability is an AI system's ability to handle growing traffic and data without breaking or becoming too expensive. A demo that serves 10 users may collapse at 10,000 if you do not plan for load, latency, and cost.

For instance, a mobile money app in Ethiopia may be quiet at night but spike on payday. Auto-scaling adds servers during the spike and removes them later, so the app stays fast without paying for idle machines all month.