Build vs. Buy: The AI Decision Framework Nobody Talks About

The build vs. buy debate misses the point. The real question is: What's your sustainable competitive advantage?

Buy AI for problems everyone has: Customer service, document processing, basic analytics. Build AI for what makes you unique: Proprietary processes, competitive differentiation, core IP. But here's the twist—even when you "buy," you're really buying components to build your solution.

The sweet spot? Buy the infrastructure, build the application. Use cloud AI services for the heavy lifting, but own the implementation layer. This gives you speed without lock-in, innovation without starting from scratch.