The Right Model for the Job: A Practical Framework for AI

Not every problem needs the biggest model — and not every model works out of the box. With frontier models, small open models, and fine-tuning all on the table, the hardest question isn't "can we do AI?" It's "which model is actually right for this?"In this session, we walk through how to match models to use cases across real enterprise workloads. You'll see when a frontier model earns its cost, when a small open model wins on latency, and when fine-tuning turns a generic model into a specialist that knows your business. We'll put the tradeoffs in action — quality, cost, latency, control — using concrete examples across customer support, document processing, and analytics.You'll leave with a repeatable framework for choosing, customizing, and deploying the right model on Databricks every time — and the patterns to keep those decisions sharp as new models land.