How much an AI solution costs cannot be stated as a single figure, but it can be broken down into items that are always the same. The first is the tool's licence or subscription, which tends to be the most visible and at the same time the smallest. The second is data preparation – cleaning it, making it accessible and connecting it to existing systems, which, when the data is untidy, tends to be the most expensive part of the project. The third is integration and process adjustment, the fourth is internal people's time for prompting, testing and checking outputs, the fifth is training, and the sixth is ongoing operation, including usage costs, which grow with intensive use, and maintenance when models change. When comparing offers, ask for a breakdown by these items and add an estimate of internal hours. An offer that contains only the licence price is not the price of the solution.
See also: Return on AI investment, Cloud services in a project, AI for Small Businesses.
