Stage 1 · Lesson 8 of 8
Choosing a model: quality, cost, latency
There is no best model, only the cheapest and fastest one that is good enough for your task. means comparing candidates on three things together. Quality: how well it does on your own examples.
Cost: the at the volume you expect. Latency, meaning waiting time: both (when text starts to appear) and total time. Public are a starting point, but they measure other people's tasks.
Start with a strong model to prove the feature can work. Then try smaller ones on the same test inputs, and step down while quality holds. Also weigh size, support for tool calling, the provider's data handling terms, and whether you need a model you can run yourself.
A question to check yourself, an AI practice session and 1 cheat sheet entry come with the full roadmap. Unlock
Resources for this stage
Start with· follow one of these
- CoursePaidGrokking Modern AI Fundamentals
Design Gurus · Beginner · $72 one-time
Structured grounding in models, transformers and embeddings before you build on them
- VideoFreeDeep Dive into Large Language Models like ChatGPT
Andrej Karpathy · Intermediate
Free: Karpathy on tokens, training and why models hallucinate, in one sitting
Keep handy
Also worth your time
Input vs output tokens and a step by step cost estimate you can reuse for any feature
- Neural Networks: Zero to HeroGo deeper
Build a small GPT from scratch if you want to see the machinery for yourself