{"id":5647,"date":"2026-09-22T12:59:01","date_gmt":"2026-09-22T07:29:01","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/binarybrill.com\/blog\/?p=5647"},"modified":"2026-09-23T11:51:34","modified_gmt":"2026-09-23T06:21:34","slug":"7-things-to-check-before-hiring-an-ai-development-company","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/binarybrill.com\/blog\/7-things-to-check-before-hiring-an-ai-development-company\/","title":{"rendered":"7 Things to Check Before Hiring an AI Development Company"},"content":{"rendered":"\t\t<div data-elementor-type=\"wp-post\" data-elementor-id=\"5647\" class=\"elementor elementor-5647\">\n\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-element elementor-element-c02124b e-flex e-con-boxed e-con e-parent\" data-id=\"c02124b\" data-element_type=\"container\">\n\t\t\t\t\t<div class=\"e-con-inner\">\n\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-element elementor-element-0fb8ba0 elementor-widget elementor-widget-heading\" data-id=\"0fb8ba0\" data-element_type=\"widget\" data-widget_type=\"heading.default\">\n\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-widget-container\">\n\t\t\t\t\t<h1 class=\"elementor-heading-title elementor-size-default\">7 Things to Check Before Hiring an AI Development Company\n<\/h1>\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<div class=\"elementor-element elementor-element-cb211c4 e-con-full e-flex e-con e-parent\" data-id=\"cb211c4\" data-element_type=\"container\">\n\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-element elementor-element-2297d9b elementor-widget elementor-widget-text-editor\" data-id=\"2297d9b\" data-element_type=\"widget\" data-widget_type=\"text-editor.default\">\n\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-widget-container\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<p dir=\"ltr\" style=\"line-height: 1.38;margin-top: 12pt;margin-bottom: 12pt\"><span style=\"font-size: 11pt;font-family: Arial,sans-serif;color: #000000;background-color: transparent;font-weight: 400;font-style: normal;font-variant: normal;text-decoration: none;vertical-align: baseline\">Most companies don&#8217;t fail at AI because the technology didn&#8217;t work. They failed because they hired the wrong <\/span><a style=\"text-decoration: none\" href=\"https:\/\/binarybrill.com\/services\/ai-ml-development\/\"><span style=\"font-size: 11pt;font-family: Arial,sans-serif;color: #1155cc;background-color: transparent;font-weight: bold;font-style: normal;font-variant: normal;text-decoration: underline;vertical-align: baseline\">AI development company<\/span><\/a> <span style=\"font-size: 11pt;font-family: Arial,sans-serif;color: #000000;background-color: transparent;font-weight: bold;font-style: normal;font-variant: normal;text-decoration: none;vertical-align: baseline\">, <\/span><span style=\"font-size: 11pt;font-family: Arial,sans-serif;color: #000000;background-color: transparent;font-weight: 400;font-style: normal;font-variant: normal;text-decoration: none;vertical-align: baseline\">one that could build a slick demo but had never kept a model honest in front of real users, real data, and real edge cases.<\/span><\/p>\n<p dir=\"ltr\" style=\"line-height: 1.38;margin-top: 12pt;margin-bottom: 12pt\"><span style=\"background-color: transparent;font-size: 11pt;font-family: Arial, sans-serif;color: #000000;font-variant: normal;vertical-align: baseline\">A bad AI vendor decision doesn&#8217;t just waste a quarter and a budget. It usually leaves your team more skeptical of AI than before you started, which makes the <\/span><span style=\"background-color: transparent;font-size: 11pt;font-family: Arial, sans-serif;color: #000000;font-style: italic;font-variant: normal;vertical-align: baseline\">next<\/span><span style=\"background-color: transparent;font-size: 11pt;font-family: Arial, sans-serif;color: #000000;font-variant: normal;vertical-align: baseline\"> attempt harder to fund. Before you sign anything, here are the 7 things worth checking. This is the short version of how to hire an AI development company without learning these lessons the expensive way.<\/span><\/p>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-element elementor-element-cfdac8b elementor-widget elementor-widget-heading\" data-id=\"cfdac8b\" data-element_type=\"widget\" data-widget_type=\"heading.default\">\n\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-widget-container\">\n\t\t\t\t\t<h2 class=\"elementor-heading-title elementor-size-default\">1. Ask What They'd Tell You Not to Build<\/h2>\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-element elementor-element-0de2aab elementor-widget elementor-widget-text-editor\" data-id=\"0de2aab\" data-element_type=\"widget\" data-widget_type=\"text-editor.default\">\n\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-widget-container\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">Every vendor will tell you what&#8217;s possible. Few will tell you what&#8217;s not worth funding yet.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">Ask directly: <\/span><i><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">&#8220;What&#8217;s the first thing you&#8217;d cut from my roadmap?&#8221;<\/span><\/i><span style=\"font-weight: 400\"> A firm with real production experience will have an opinion\u00a0 usually about a use case that sounds impressive on a slide but doesn&#8217;t have clean enough data behind it, or doesn&#8217;t need AI at all when a simpler rule-based system would do the job for a tenth of the cost.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">If every idea you bring gets a green light and a price tag, that&#8217;s not confidence. That&#8217;s a firm optimizing for the sale, not your outcome. The best AI partners kill weak ideas in the first conversation, before those ideas cost you anything.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><b>Red flag:<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400\"> A vendor who answers this question with marketing language (&#8220;we believe in the art of the possible&#8221;) instead of a specific example.<\/span><\/p>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-element elementor-element-570288d elementor-widget elementor-widget-heading\" data-id=\"570288d\" data-element_type=\"widget\" data-widget_type=\"heading.default\">\n\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-widget-container\">\n\t\t\t\t\t<h2 class=\"elementor-heading-title elementor-size-default\">2. Check If They've Shipped to Production  Not Just Demos\n<\/h2>\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-element elementor-element-abdcbda elementor-widget elementor-widget-text-editor\" data-id=\"abdcbda\" data-element_type=\"widget\" data-widget_type=\"text-editor.default\">\n\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-widget-container\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">A working demo and a production system are two different products. The demo doesn&#8217;t need to survive a user typing something unexpected, a 10x traffic spike, or a model provider having an outage on a Sunday at 2am. A production system does, every day, indefinitely.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">Ask for specifics:<\/span><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">How many of their AI projects are actually <\/span><b>live with real users today<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">, not just built and handed off?<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">How long have the oldest ones been running without a full rebuild?<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">What happens when the underlying model provider changes pricing or deprecates a version they built on?<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">A firm that&#8217;s spent real time in production talks fluently about evaluation harnesses, guardrails, monitoring, and fallback logic, not just which model they used. If the conversation stays at &#8220;we used GPT-4&#8221; or &#8220;we used Claude,&#8221; that&#8217;s a signal they haven&#8217;t lived past launch day.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><b>Red flag:<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400\"> They can show you screenshots or a portfolio site, but can&#8217;t tell you how many of those projects are still running, or for whom.<\/span><\/p>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-element elementor-element-c76bb8a elementor-widget elementor-widget-heading\" data-id=\"c76bb8a\" data-element_type=\"widget\" data-widget_type=\"heading.default\">\n\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-widget-container\">\n\t\t\t\t\t<h2 class=\"elementor-heading-title elementor-size-default\">3. Find Out Who Owns the Code and the Model Afterward\n<\/h2>\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<div class=\"elementor-element elementor-element-af10afe e-flex e-con-boxed e-con e-parent\" data-id=\"af10afe\" data-element_type=\"container\">\n\t\t\t\t\t<div class=\"e-con-inner\">\n\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-element elementor-element-0e0497e elementor-widget elementor-widget-text-editor\" data-id=\"0e0497e\" data-element_type=\"widget\" data-widget_type=\"text-editor.default\">\n\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-widget-container\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">This is the question people forget to ask until it&#8217;s too late, usually right when they want to switch vendors or bring the work in-house, and discover they can&#8217;t.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">Some vendors build on proprietary internal frameworks, keep fine-tuned models on their own infrastructure, or structure contracts so the IP technically stays with them even though you paid for the work.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">Get this in writing before the project starts, not after:<\/span><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">Do you own the codebase outright, with no restrictions?<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">Can you take the model, the data pipeline, and the infrastructure to another team if the relationship ends?<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">Is there any dependency on the vendor&#8217;s proprietary tooling that would make a future migration painful or expensive?<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">A vendor confident in their own work won&#8217;t flinch at handing over full IP ownership; it&#8217;s the ones who need you locked in who hesitate, hedge, or bury the answer inside a services agreement you&#8217;re expected not to read too closely.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><b>Red flag:<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400\"> &#8220;Full ownership&#8221; is promised verbally but the contract references a proprietary platform, SDK, or hosted infrastructure you can&#8217;t take with you.<\/span><\/p>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-element elementor-element-645eaaa elementor-widget elementor-widget-heading\" data-id=\"645eaaa\" data-element_type=\"widget\" data-widget_type=\"heading.default\">\n\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-widget-container\">\n\t\t\t\t\t<h2 class=\"elementor-heading-title elementor-size-default\">4. Ask How They Evaluate Model Output Before Launch\n<\/h2>\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-element elementor-element-4c697b8 elementor-widget elementor-widget-text-editor\" data-id=\"4c697b8\" data-element_type=\"widget\" data-widget_type=\"text-editor.default\">\n\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-widget-container\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">&#8220;It worked when we tested it&#8221; is not an evaluation strategy. Ask what their process looks like for catching a model&#8217;s mistakes before your customers do.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">Look for specific, concrete answers, not vague reassurance:<\/span><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">A documented evaluation harness with defined test cases pulled from real-world scenarios, not just the happy path<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">A human-in-the-loop step for high-stakes decisions\u00a0 refunds, medical information, financial guidance, anything with real consequences if the model gets it wrong<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">A plan for what happens when the model <\/span><i><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">is<\/span><\/i><span style=\"font-weight: 400\"> wrong: does it escalate to a human, fail safely, or fail silently and hope nobody notices?<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">Ongoing monitoring after launch, not a one-time test before handoff<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">If a vendor can&#8217;t describe how they&#8217;d catch a bad output before it reaches a user, they haven&#8217;t shipped enough production AI to know they need one. This is usually the single biggest gap between firms that talk about AI and firms that actually operate it day to day.<\/span><\/p>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-element elementor-element-0e466e6 elementor-widget elementor-widget-heading\" data-id=\"0e466e6\" data-element_type=\"widget\" data-widget_type=\"heading.default\">\n\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-widget-container\">\n\t\t\t\t\t<h2 class=\"elementor-heading-title elementor-size-default\">5. Get a Fixed Scope Before You Get a Full Proposal\n<\/h2>\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-element elementor-element-0251664 elementor-widget elementor-widget-text-editor\" data-id=\"0251664\" data-element_type=\"widget\" data-widget_type=\"text-editor.default\">\n\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-widget-container\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">Vague scoping is where AI budgets quietly balloon. &#8220;We&#8217;ll figure it out as we go&#8221; sounds agile. In practice, it often means the vendor hasn&#8217;t done the discovery work to actually price the project\u00a0 so you end up funding their learning curve, one change order at a time.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">A firm that knows what they&#8217;re doing will:<\/span><\/p>\n<ol>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">Pin down what success looks like in measurable numbers before writing a line of code<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">Prototype the riskiest, most uncertain part of the build first, so surprises show up early and cheap<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">Hand you a <\/span><b>fixed scope and cost<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400\"> before you commit to the full build<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ol>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">If a vendor wants you to sign an open-ended time-and-materials contract before proving the hardest part of the idea even works, you&#8217;re carrying all the risk and they&#8217;re carrying none of it.<\/span><\/p>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-element elementor-element-c6553e2 elementor-widget elementor-widget-heading\" data-id=\"c6553e2\" data-element_type=\"widget\" data-widget_type=\"heading.default\">\n\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-widget-container\">\n\t\t\t\t\t<h2 class=\"elementor-heading-title elementor-size-default\">6. Ask What Happens When the Project Ends\n<\/h2>\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-element elementor-element-18cbd58 elementor-widget elementor-widget-text-editor\" data-id=\"18cbd58\" data-element_type=\"widget\" data-widget_type=\"text-editor.default\">\n\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-widget-container\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">Some AI companies are built to build, not to run. They&#8217;ll ship the project, hand you a repo and a README, and disappear\u00a0 leaving your team to figure out monitoring, retraining, and incident response on a system they didn&#8217;t build and don&#8217;t fully understand.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">Ask specifically:<\/span><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">Is there a documented handover process, or just a Slack channel that quietly goes quiet?<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">Will they stay on for fixes, tuning, and retraining\u00a0 or is launch day the end of the relationship?<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">Who gets paged if the model starts behaving badly at 2am on a weekend?<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">What does it cost, and how long does it take, if you need a feature added six months after launch?<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">Get this answered before signing, not after your first production incident, when you have no leverage left to negotiate.<\/span><\/p>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-element elementor-element-2ca32c3 elementor-widget elementor-widget-heading\" data-id=\"2ca32c3\" data-element_type=\"widget\" data-widget_type=\"heading.default\">\n\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-widget-container\">\n\t\t\t\t\t<h2 class=\"elementor-heading-title elementor-size-default\">7. Talk to a Reference Who's 6+ Months Past Launch\n<\/h2>\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-element elementor-element-6b7f3bc elementor-widget elementor-widget-text-editor\" data-id=\"6b7f3bc\" data-element_type=\"widget\" data-widget_type=\"text-editor.default\">\n\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-widget-container\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">Anyone can produce a happy client from week one of a project, back when everything&#8217;s still new and the honeymoon period hasn&#8217;t worn off. The reference that actually tells you something is a client who&#8217;s been living with the system for half a year or longer.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">Ask that reference the questions the vendor can&#8217;t answer for them:<\/span><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">Did the estimated timeline actually hold, or did it slip and by how much?<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">Did the model&#8217;s accuracy hold up once real, messy, unglamorous production data hit it?<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">Did anything need to be rebuilt or rethought after launch?<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">Would they hire this firm again, knowing what they know now?<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">A firm confident in their work will connect you with a reference like this without hesitation. A firm that stalls, deflects, or only offers references from projects that wrapped last month is telling you something too.<\/span><\/p>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-element elementor-element-587ca1a elementor-widget-divider--view-line elementor-widget elementor-widget-divider\" data-id=\"587ca1a\" data-element_type=\"widget\" data-widget_type=\"divider.default\">\n\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-widget-container\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-divider\">\n\t\t\t<span class=\"elementor-divider-separator\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/span>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-element elementor-element-c372fc7 elementor-widget elementor-widget-text-editor\" data-id=\"c372fc7\" data-element_type=\"widget\" data-widget_type=\"text-editor.default\">\n\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-widget-container\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<p><b>The fast version:<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400\"> can they name what they wouldn&#8217;t build for you, show you a live production system, guarantee full IP ownership, describe a real evaluation process, give you a fixed scope up front, commit to post-launch support, and connect you with a reference 6+ months in? If more than one of those gets a shaky answer, keep looking. The right AI development company will welcome every one of these questions\u00a0 because they&#8217;ve answered them before, for someone just like you.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><b>Ready to run BinaryBrill through this checklist yourself?<\/b><a href=\"https:\/\/binarybrill.com\/contact-us\/\"> <span style=\"font-weight: 400\">Book a free scoping call with no discovery fee<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">, no pressure, and a senior engineer replies within 24 hours, not a sales rep.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><br \/><br \/><\/p>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-element elementor-element-3bd43e5 elementor-widget elementor-widget-heading\" data-id=\"3bd43e5\" data-element_type=\"widget\" data-widget_type=\"heading.default\">\n\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-widget-container\">\n\t\t\t\t\t<h2 class=\"elementor-heading-title elementor-size-default\">FAQ\n<\/h2>\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<div class=\"elementor-element elementor-element-c50d952 e-flex e-con-boxed e-con e-parent\" data-id=\"c50d952\" data-element_type=\"container\">\n\t\t\t\t\t<div class=\"e-con-inner\">\n\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-element elementor-element-88e1831 elementor-widget elementor-widget-n-accordion\" data-id=\"88e1831\" data-element_type=\"widget\" data-settings=\"{&quot;default_state&quot;:&quot;expanded&quot;,&quot;max_items_expended&quot;:&quot;one&quot;,&quot;n_accordion_animation_duration&quot;:{&quot;unit&quot;:&quot;ms&quot;,&quot;size&quot;:400,&quot;sizes&quot;:[]}}\" data-widget_type=\"nested-accordion.default\">\n\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-widget-container\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<div class=\"e-n-accordion\" aria-label=\"Accordion. Open links with Enter or Space, close with Escape, and navigate with Arrow Keys\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<details id=\"e-n-accordion-item-1430\" class=\"e-n-accordion-item\" open>\n\t\t\t\t<summary class=\"e-n-accordion-item-title\" data-accordion-index=\"1\" tabindex=\"0\" aria-expanded=\"true\" aria-controls=\"e-n-accordion-item-1430\" >\n\t\t\t\t\t<span class='e-n-accordion-item-title-header'><div class=\"e-n-accordion-item-title-text\"> How do I hire an AI development company without overpaying?  <\/div><\/span>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<span class='e-n-accordion-item-title-icon'>\n\t\t\t<span class='e-opened' ><svg aria-hidden=\"true\" class=\"e-font-icon-svg e-fas-minus\" viewBox=\"0 0 448 512\" xmlns=\"http:\/\/www.w3.org\/2000\/svg\"><path d=\"M416 208H32c-17.67 0-32 14.33-32 32v32c0 17.67 14.33 32 32 32h384c17.67 0 32-14.33 32-32v-32c0-17.67-14.33-32-32-32z\"><\/path><\/svg><\/span>\n\t\t\t<span class='e-closed'><svg aria-hidden=\"true\" class=\"e-font-icon-svg e-fas-plus\" viewBox=\"0 0 448 512\" xmlns=\"http:\/\/www.w3.org\/2000\/svg\"><path d=\"M416 208H272V64c0-17.67-14.33-32-32-32h-32c-17.67 0-32 14.33-32 32v144H32c-17.67 0-32 14.33-32 32v32c0 17.67 14.33 32 32 32h144v144c0 17.67 14.33 32 32 32h32c17.67 0 32-14.33 32-32V304h144c17.67 0 32-14.33 32-32v-32c0-17.67-14.33-32-32-32z\"><\/path><\/svg><\/span>\n\t\t<\/span>\n\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/summary>\n\t\t\t\t<div role=\"region\" aria-labelledby=\"e-n-accordion-item-1430\" class=\"elementor-element elementor-element-5025933 e-con-full e-flex e-con e-child\" data-id=\"5025933\" data-element_type=\"container\">\n\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-element elementor-element-c368b3c elementor-widget elementor-widget-text-editor\" data-id=\"c368b3c\" data-element_type=\"widget\" data-widget_type=\"text-editor.default\">\n\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-widget-container\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">Get a fixed scope and cost built from a working prototype of the riskiest part of the project, not a rough estimate off a single discovery call. Vendors who&#8217;ve done real discovery work can price accurately upfront; vendors who haven&#8217;t tended to quote low to win the deal, then expand scope and cost once you&#8217;re already committed.<\/span><\/p>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/details>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<details id=\"e-n-accordion-item-1431\" class=\"e-n-accordion-item\" >\n\t\t\t\t<summary class=\"e-n-accordion-item-title\" data-accordion-index=\"2\" tabindex=\"-1\" aria-expanded=\"false\" aria-controls=\"e-n-accordion-item-1431\" >\n\t\t\t\t\t<span class='e-n-accordion-item-title-header'><div class=\"e-n-accordion-item-title-text\"> What's the difference between an AI development company and a general software agency with an \"AI practice\"?  <\/div><\/span>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<span class='e-n-accordion-item-title-icon'>\n\t\t\t<span class='e-opened' ><svg aria-hidden=\"true\" class=\"e-font-icon-svg e-fas-minus\" viewBox=\"0 0 448 512\" xmlns=\"http:\/\/www.w3.org\/2000\/svg\"><path d=\"M416 208H32c-17.67 0-32 14.33-32 32v32c0 17.67 14.33 32 32 32h384c17.67 0 32-14.33 32-32v-32c0-17.67-14.33-32-32-32z\"><\/path><\/svg><\/span>\n\t\t\t<span class='e-closed'><svg aria-hidden=\"true\" class=\"e-font-icon-svg e-fas-plus\" viewBox=\"0 0 448 512\" xmlns=\"http:\/\/www.w3.org\/2000\/svg\"><path d=\"M416 208H272V64c0-17.67-14.33-32-32-32h-32c-17.67 0-32 14.33-32 32v144H32c-17.67 0-32 14.33-32 32v32c0 17.67 14.33 32 32 32h144v144c0 17.67 14.33 32 32 32h32c17.67 0 32-14.33 32-32V304h144c17.67 0 32-14.33 32-32v-32c0-17.67-14.33-32-32-32z\"><\/path><\/svg><\/span>\n\t\t<\/span>\n\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/summary>\n\t\t\t\t<div role=\"region\" aria-labelledby=\"e-n-accordion-item-1431\" class=\"elementor-element elementor-element-3e7c968 e-con-full e-flex e-con e-child\" data-id=\"3e7c968\" data-element_type=\"container\">\n\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-element elementor-element-1117276 elementor-widget elementor-widget-text-editor\" data-id=\"1117276\" data-element_type=\"widget\" data-widget_type=\"text-editor.default\">\n\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-widget-container\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">A dedicated AI development company will have evaluation processes, monitoring, and production experience specific to model-based systems, not just general engineering discipline bolted onto a new tech stack. Ask about their oldest <\/span><i><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">live<\/span><\/i><span style=\"font-weight: 400\"> AI project as a fast filter: a specific answer is a good sign, a vague one isn&#8217;t.<\/span><\/p>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/details>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<details id=\"e-n-accordion-item-1432\" class=\"e-n-accordion-item\" >\n\t\t\t\t<summary class=\"e-n-accordion-item-title\" data-accordion-index=\"3\" tabindex=\"-1\" aria-expanded=\"false\" aria-controls=\"e-n-accordion-item-1432\" >\n\t\t\t\t\t<span class='e-n-accordion-item-title-header'><div class=\"e-n-accordion-item-title-text\"> Should custom AI solutions for business always involve building a model from scratch?  <\/div><\/span>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<span class='e-n-accordion-item-title-icon'>\n\t\t\t<span class='e-opened' ><svg aria-hidden=\"true\" class=\"e-font-icon-svg e-fas-minus\" viewBox=\"0 0 448 512\" xmlns=\"http:\/\/www.w3.org\/2000\/svg\"><path d=\"M416 208H32c-17.67 0-32 14.33-32 32v32c0 17.67 14.33 32 32 32h384c17.67 0 32-14.33 32-32v-32c0-17.67-14.33-32-32-32z\"><\/path><\/svg><\/span>\n\t\t\t<span class='e-closed'><svg aria-hidden=\"true\" class=\"e-font-icon-svg e-fas-plus\" viewBox=\"0 0 448 512\" xmlns=\"http:\/\/www.w3.org\/2000\/svg\"><path d=\"M416 208H272V64c0-17.67-14.33-32-32-32h-32c-17.67 0-32 14.33-32 32v144H32c-17.67 0-32 14.33-32 32v32c0 17.67 14.33 32 32 32h144v144c0 17.67 14.33 32 32 32h32c17.67 0 32-14.33 32-32V304h144c17.67 0 32-14.33 32-32v-32c0-17.67-14.33-32-32-32z\"><\/path><\/svg><\/span>\n\t\t<\/span>\n\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/summary>\n\t\t\t\t<div role=\"region\" aria-labelledby=\"e-n-accordion-item-1432\" class=\"elementor-element elementor-element-cd2b1f4 e-con-full e-flex e-con e-child\" data-id=\"cd2b1f4\" data-element_type=\"container\">\n\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-element elementor-element-f710275 elementor-widget elementor-widget-text-editor\" data-id=\"f710275\" data-element_type=\"widget\" data-widget_type=\"text-editor.default\">\n\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-widget-container\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">Almost never. Most business problems are solved faster and more reliably with an existing foundation model plus solid data engineering, retrieval, and guardrails wrapped around it. Be cautious of any vendor eager to build a custom model when a well-integrated existing one would do the job in a fraction of the time and cost.<\/span><\/p>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/details>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<details id=\"e-n-accordion-item-1433\" class=\"e-n-accordion-item\" >\n\t\t\t\t<summary class=\"e-n-accordion-item-title\" data-accordion-index=\"4\" tabindex=\"-1\" aria-expanded=\"false\" aria-controls=\"e-n-accordion-item-1433\" >\n\t\t\t\t\t<span class='e-n-accordion-item-title-header'><div class=\"e-n-accordion-item-title-text\"> How long should an AI project take from scoping to launch? <\/div><\/span>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<span class='e-n-accordion-item-title-icon'>\n\t\t\t<span class='e-opened' ><svg aria-hidden=\"true\" class=\"e-font-icon-svg e-fas-minus\" viewBox=\"0 0 448 512\" xmlns=\"http:\/\/www.w3.org\/2000\/svg\"><path d=\"M416 208H32c-17.67 0-32 14.33-32 32v32c0 17.67 14.33 32 32 32h384c17.67 0 32-14.33 32-32v-32c0-17.67-14.33-32-32-32z\"><\/path><\/svg><\/span>\n\t\t\t<span class='e-closed'><svg aria-hidden=\"true\" class=\"e-font-icon-svg e-fas-plus\" viewBox=\"0 0 448 512\" xmlns=\"http:\/\/www.w3.org\/2000\/svg\"><path d=\"M416 208H272V64c0-17.67-14.33-32-32-32h-32c-17.67 0-32 14.33-32 32v144H32c-17.67 0-32 14.33-32 32v32c0 17.67 14.33 32 32 32h144v144c0 17.67 14.33 32 32 32h32c17.67 0 32-14.33 32-32V304h144c17.67 0 32-14.33 32-32v-32c0-17.67-14.33-32-32-32z\"><\/path><\/svg><\/span>\n\t\t<\/span>\n\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/summary>\n\t\t\t\t<div role=\"region\" aria-labelledby=\"e-n-accordion-item-1433\" class=\"elementor-element elementor-element-36e595b e-flex e-con-boxed e-con e-child\" data-id=\"36e595b\" data-element_type=\"container\">\n\t\t\t\t\t<div class=\"e-con-inner\">\n\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-element elementor-element-e2794e6 elementor-widget elementor-widget-text-editor\" data-id=\"e2794e6\" data-element_type=\"widget\" data-widget_type=\"text-editor.default\">\n\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-widget-container\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">It depends on scope, but a vendor running fixed sprints with a working demo at the end of each one should be able to give you a realistic range in the first conversation, not &#8220;it depends&#8221; with no follow-up.<\/span><\/p>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/details>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>7 Things to Check Before Hiring an AI Development Company Most companies don&#8217;t fail at AI because the technology didn&#8217;t work. They failed because they hired the wrong AI development company , one that could build a slick demo but had never kept a model honest in front of real users, real data, and real [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-5647","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/binarybrill.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5647","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/binarybrill.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/binarybrill.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/binarybrill.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/binarybrill.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=5647"}],"version-history":[{"count":10,"href":"https:\/\/binarybrill.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5647\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":5658,"href":"https:\/\/binarybrill.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5647\/revisions\/5658"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/binarybrill.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=5647"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/binarybrill.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=5647"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/binarybrill.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=5647"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}