Module 7: Building vs Buying AI - The Most Expensive Decision Most Organizations Get Wrong

Should you build your own AI model, buy a vendor's, or some hybrid in between?

Build-versus-buy is presented as a binary. It is not. There are at least five distinct positions on the spectrum, and the most expensive mistakes in enterprise AI come from organizations picking the wrong one because they thought there were only two. This module is the framework for choosing well.

What you'll learn in this module

• The five positions on the build-buy spectrum: fully custom, fine-tuned foundation model, retrieval-augmented vendor product, configured SaaS, and pure-vendor consumption
• The talent, data, infrastructure, and time-to-production cost of each position, with realistic 2026 numbers
• How to tell when proprietary data actually creates a moat and when it does not
• Vendor lock-in patterns in AI procurement and the contract terms that preserve optionality
• The portfolio strategy: which use cases belong in which position, and how the answer changes as model capability advances

The complete module walks through real organizational decisions on each of the five positions and shows where the costs and risks actually land over a three-year horizon.