Data Science at Home Your AI Strategy is Burning Money: Here's How to Fix It (Ep.295)
Nov 25, 2025
In this episode, Matt Lee, founder of Schematical and CloudWarGames, shares nearly 20 years of wisdom on AI and cloud infrastructure. He reveals that many companies struggle with decision-making rather than AI challenges. Matt explains when AI truly adds value, how to cut costs with strategic model choices, and the importance of manual testing before automation. He discusses common pitfalls in AI spending and offers practical advice on framing AI projects in financial terms to win over CTOs and boards.
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AI Isn't Magic, It's Engineering
- AI is not magic and requires many design decisions like model type, data, and hosting.
- Treat AI as engineering work with trade-offs, not a plug-and-play solution.
Calculate Clear ROI Before Building Models
- Do the ROI math: compare engineering hours and infrastructure costs to human alternatives.
- Favor humans or simpler automation when they deliver equal or better cost-effectiveness.
Chatbot Context Killed The Budget
- Matt describes clients who added chatbots and faced exploding context and token costs at scale.
- Cutting context or replacing AI with targeted search saved them significant expense.