Designing Cost-Efficient AI Assistants with Model RoutingDesigning Cost-Efficient AI Assistants with Model Routing
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My AI assistant runs all day. The expensive model only does the thinking.
Most requests need no AI at all. "Call me in 30 minutes" is handled by plain code. Reminders, schedules and limits are code too.
Short tasks like sorting and scoring go to fast models on a free tier.
The big model only gets planning and long conversations, where it actually has to think.
If it hits a limit, a backup model answers instead of the app going silent.
If your AI app's bill keeps growing, check what really needs the big model.
What does your app send to the most expensive model?
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Benjamin's avatar
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what are you using for the free tier models?
Azizxon's avatar
Groq for most of it, their free tier is fast and handles sorting and short replies fine. When it hits the rate limit, it falls back to Gemini's free tier. The paid model only gets the stuff that actually needs thinking. Have you tried mixing free and paid models like that?
StackShortlist's avatar
Routing plain reminders to code instead of a model is the most underrated cost cut. Do you log which tier answered so you can spot misroutes?
Azizxon's avatar
Yes, I do
StackShortlist's avatar
Same pattern holds in outbound tooling. Filtering, dedupe and enrichment lookups are plain code. The model only writes the first line once the row is already verified. Cuts cost and the weird outputs.
Azizxon's avatar
Thank you for the advice!
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