Separate the product from the model
A chat product is an interface that can combine models with search, files and other tools. A model provides capabilities such as understanding or generation and may be available through several services. Choosing a daily assistant and choosing an API for your own application call for different questions.
Specify the inputs and outputs
Will you provide text, scanned pages, images, audio or a combination? Do you need prose, structured fields or code? Consult documentation for the specific model version. A family description does not establish every version's capabilities. Try the charts and screenshots your task really involves.
Connect capabilities to the workflow
A large context window still needs organized material and a clear question. Consider tool use, structured output and file handling as parts of a complete process. A question-answering application also needs retrieval, citations and a way to handle missing answers. Changing the model alone may not solve these problems.
Compare using representative requests
Include ordinary examples, missing information, ambiguous wording and important edge cases. Define acceptable correctness, format, latency and actual API cost in advance. Public benchmarks can help narrow the field; your own users and data determine practical fit. Include the cost of human corrections.
Plan access and maintenance
Check account and regional requirements, billing, model lifecycle and licenses. Self-hosting also requires hardware, operations and updates. Keep model names and parameters in a central configuration and retain a fixed sample set to review upgrades. Start with one stable workflow and expand from there.
Methods, examples and selection advice in this article were developed by FindGoodAI. Product capabilities and access links refer to the official resources listed below.
Sources & references
Four things to understand in a model description — official reference ↗
Four things to understand in a model description — official reference ↗
Four things to understand in a model description — official reference ↗
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