Start with what you need
Articulation check
Is the problem stated well enough to build?
Answer what you can. Nothing is sent until you choose to send it. The check tells you which gap matters most before you spend money or engineering time on the wrong thing.
Latest notes
Build vs. managed platforms
The AI capability gap between layers has largely closed. The infrastructure gap has not. The right question is where the hard part of your problem actually lives.
NLU as a tool for the LLM, not the orchestrator
Moving away from NLU-first architectures was right. Retiring NLU entirely is the overcorrection. The model should orchestrate — the question is what it orchestrates with.
Eval dimensions and what they're for
Comprehensiveness feels like rigor. It produces noise. The eval suite should reflect what success looks like for each interaction type, not what the framework can expose.
Work together
If you have a workflow to map, a prototype to build, or a system to make reliable, start with the articulation check or write to seth@verbalagency.com.