Strategy · 7 min read
The True Cost of Building AI Features: What CTOs Need to Know
The bill for AI features includes engineering time, evaluation, support, data preparation, and ongoing model changes.
Budget for iteration
A feature is not done when it works once. It is done when it keeps working for your users and your team can support it.
Track the hidden layers
Prompt evals, tracing, fallbacks, and infrastructure all add real cost, but they are also what keep the feature reliable.