Vendor diligence

Questions to ask an AI vendor

A printable list every AI vendor should answer in writing before you spend a dollar. The wizard customises this list to your specific pitch.

Score a vendor in 5 min Read the methodology

Customer proof

  • Who is your nearest peer customer to us, and can we speak to them?
  • Can you walk us through a live client deployment on our second call?
  • How many of your customers renewed at month 12?

Technical credibility

  • Which foundation model powers this, and what is your switching policy?
  • What is your data flow diagram, and where does our data live?
  • How do you handle prompt injection and PII redaction?

Cost predictability

  • What is the all-in monthly cost at 1x, 5x, and 10x our pilot usage?
  • Will you accept a monthly cost cap with quarterly review?
  • Will you give us 30 days notice before any cost change?

IP protection

  • Who owns the model, the code, and the outputs?
  • Will you put source code in escrow?
  • What happens to our fine-tuned weights if the engagement ends?

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Vendor diligence

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What kind of vendor are they?

Different archetypes carry different risk profiles. Boutique consultancies, agencies, SaaS vendors, freelancers, and staff-aug shops all fail in distinct ways - we adapt the rest of the questions to the archetype you pick.

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