I frequently prototype models on my Android tablet when on flights. You can install Jupyter on almost anything and even low end notebooks have the processing po

I frequently prototype models on my Android tablet when on flights. You can install Jupyter on almost anything and even low end notebooks have the processing power to train useful (albeit small) models. Google Collab and PaperSpace have free tiers and for only $10/month you can get access to GPU's on PaperSpace with the capacity to train fairly decently sized models. There is a wealth of intro material (this one is pretty good https://www.oreilly.com/library/view/hands-on-machine-learning/9781492032632/ https://www.oreilly.com/library/view/hands-on-machine-learni...) to get you started. Even with the largest models that are not feasible for individuals to train (Large Language Models for example, that are so expensive even most companies can't afford to build them) there are refinement techniques that let you take existing models and train them for specific tasks. That kind of training can run on most higher end consumer grade GPU's. I'll admit I am bit biased since I have worked in the field of AI for 20 years now, but I really don't see anything limiting even a mildly committed individual from getting into this area, even if only as a hobby.