Module 5 of 5 · Intermediate · 7 min read
Choosing a model for your task
A practical decision process, from requirements to a shortlist to your own quick eval.
- 1Start from the task's hard requirements: modality, context, latency, data rules.
- 2Shortlist with leaderboards, decide with your own examples.
- 3Re-evaluate every few months; the field moves fast.
01Requirements first
Eliminate models that cannot meet the non-negotiables before comparing quality.
- Inputs: text only, or images, audio, video, PDFs?
- Context: how much material per request?
- Latency and volume: interactive or batch? Thousands or millions of calls?
- Data and compliance: where can data go? Do you need on-prem?
02Shortlist with the races
Use the category races to find the two or three leaders for your task type: coding, writing, multimodal, agents. Check the margin: in a photo finish, choose on price, speed or ecosystem; with a dominant leader, the choice is clearer.
Weight sliders on each race let you blend sub-categories to match your use case.
03Decide with your own eval
Take 20 to 50 real examples of your task, run each shortlisted model, and compare blind. Score against a simple rubric. This takes an afternoon and beats any public benchmark for your specific need.
Keep the eval set: when a new model launches, you can test it in minutes.
Finished reading?
Mark it complete to track your progress, then test yourself with the Benchmarks & Evals quiz.