Lesson 1706 of 2116
AI tools: cost-control patterns for LLM features
Caching, smaller models for easy turns, hard caps per user, and a kill switch. Cost runaway is a product bug, not just an ops problem.
Lesson map
What this lesson covers
Learning path
The main moves in order
- 1The premise
- 2cost control
- 3caching
- 4tiered models
Concept cluster
Terms to connect while reading
Section 1
The premise
LLM costs spiral when there are no per-user caps, no model tiering, and no caching. Each lever adds engineering work but turns cost from unbounded to predictable.
What AI does well here
- Return cached responses when given a cache hit
- Use a smaller model when explicitly routed
- Stop processing when a user hits a documented limit
What AI cannot do
- Decide on its own when to use a smaller model
- Cache its own responses without infrastructure
- Self-throttle abusive users
Key terms in this lesson
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