PHP-ORT: Machine Learning Inference for the Web

Summary

The Inevitable Transformation Software is changing faster than we've seen in 25 years. Machine learning isn't just becoming important, it's becoming essential. Every application, every website, every digital interaction will soon expect intelligent features as standard. For millions of PHP developers who power the web, this creates an existential challenge: stay relevant in an AI-first world or risk obsolescence. The Stakes: This isn't about technology preferences, it's about livelihoods. Mortgages, families, careers built on PHP expertise. The Current Reality PHP dominates the web: 78% of websites use PHP as their server-side language ML is becoming essential: Every modern application needs intelligent features The gap is growing: No first class machine learning support for PHP The choices are terrible: Burden your stack with microservices, API calls, or other inefficient methodology (eg. FFI), or switch stacks. <?php $user_input = $_POST['message']; Why This Matters When we mention numbers like 78%, we are meant to offer all kinds of caveats about how servers report their software and so on ... To focus on the actual number is to miss the point entirely; It is without doubt that PHP is the most widely distributed (at the server side) web programming language on planet earth. If ML inference becomes a first class citizen in PHP, we democratize machine learning at unprecedented scale: Every PHP developer becomes capable of building intelligent applications, but more importantly, they are able to innovate in this space. Genuine innovation is a far reach when what you are able to do is mostly determined by remote endpoints. Innovation comes much easier when the power is at your fingertips ... As tradition demands, a caveat: The vision of the future presented herein may never come to pass, maybe AI is vaporware. The relative cost of behaving as if that future will come to pass is small, whatever the future brings. The Solution: Production-Ready ML Inference PHP-ORT bri...