AI costs climb as you handle more sensitive information. Most businesses accept that as the cost of scaling.

They shouldn't.

The real question is: what does each completed result actually cost, and which parts of the process are driving it?

I've spent nearly 20 years designing large computing systems, petabyte-scale storage, AI clusters with hundreds of GPUs. That experience taught me to map the whole process before recommending any fix.

I start with one expensive process, follow the money, and identify what's worth changing.