How to Build AI Products

Phase 1 · Understand & Plan

Step 1

Define the Problem

Who are your customers? What problem?

Empathy map User journey Customer segmentation

Completed

Step 1.5

AI/ML Fundamentals

Model types · Learning paradigms · What's possible

Coming Soon

Step 2

AI Governance Gate

Ethics · Accountability · Fairness · Regulation

Coming Soon

Step 2.5

AI Product Metrics & Success

Define what success looks like before building

Completed

Step 3

Capability Fit & Path Selection

Choose your path →

Phase 2 · Choose Your Path

Build In-House

Own the full stack

Define AI features

Model type selectionClassification · Predictive · Generative

Existing model or build ownHugging Face vs custom

Data strategySource · Clean · Bias test

Buy Off-the-Shelf

Vendor owns the AI

Define requirements

Vendor evaluationCapability · Privacy · Cost · Lock-in

AI features auditWhat AI is embedded?

Data privacy checkHIPAA · SOC2 · Access control

Buy + Customize

Vendor base, your AI layer

Identify AI gap

RAG architectureRegulated · Company data

Fine-tuningStable data · Tone · Behavior

Data strategySource · Label · Bias test

all paths converge

Phase 3 · Build, Test & Ship — Shared Steps

if underperforms → iterate

Coming Soon

Step 3.5

Write AI Product Specs & PRDs

Specs that account for AI's unique requirements

Coming Soon

Step 4

Prompt Engineering & System Design

Architecture of how AI receives inputs

Completed

Step 5

Evals · Model Evaluation

Does the model work as expected?

Coming Soon

Step 6

Cost & Latency Tradeoffs

Can it run at scale? Fast enough?

Coming Soon

Step 6.5

AI Security

Prompt injection · Adversarial attacks · Data poisoning

Coming Soon

Step 7

Deploy to Production

Rollout · Human-in-the-loop · Staged release

Coming Soon

Step 7.5

AI Agents & Agentic Architecture

Planning · Tool use · Memory · Autonomous workflows

Coming Soon

Step 8

Monitor & Collect Feedback

Drift · Bias · Hallucinations · User feedback

Step 9

Feedback Loop

Retrain · Re-architect · Model versioning