Solid overview. One thing I'd add to the selection criteria: whichever model you pick, it's worth verifying periodically that the endpoint actually serves what it claims — especially with third-party gateways. A small behavioral smoke test (a few fixed prompts at temperature 0, diffed against the official API) catches silent downgrades that benchmark tables never will. Model choice is a starting point; verification is what keeps it honest.
Seven
Solid overview. One thing I'd add to the selection criteria: whichever model you pick, it's worth verifying periodically that the endpoint actually serves what it claims — especially with third-party gateways. A small behavioral smoke test (a few fixed prompts at temperature 0, diffed against the official API) catches silent downgrades that benchmark tables never will. Model choice is a starting point; verification is what keeps it honest.