The honest answer is almost never buy or build. It is buy these layers, build that one, and partner where you lack the muscle but need someone accountable. This is a framework for getting it right, layer by layer.
Treat AI as one decision, and you rebuild plumbing you should have bought or hand a vendor the one thing that was your edge.
Decompose it by layer, default each layer, and decide build, buy, or co-build for each one.
If a capability underpins your competitive position, build it, because buying it means competitors can buy the same thing.
If the capability is undifferentiated, buying is faster, cheaper, and frees your team.
Cost and ROI is consistently the single most overriding factor in these decisions, and the one teams model worst.
Break the capability into infrastructure and models, platform and orchestration, application and workflow, and data and domain logic. You are deciding four things, not one.
Buy infrastructure and platform, blend application, build and own data and domain logic. The teams that lose do the reverse: they reinvent infrastructure while using generic applications that do not fit. Then look for reasons to deviate.
For anything you are tempted to build, ask: is it a real advantage, sensitive, or deeply integrated? If none, buy it.
For each layer you will build, ask whether a partner co-build would raise your odds.
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