The Reality Behind AI Tools
Every "AI-powered" product you're paying for is built from the same handful of building blocks. Once you see it, you can't unsee it.
Book a Discovery CallThe Building Blocks
Strip away the branding and marketing. Here's what's actually inside every AI tool.
LLM API Calls
ChatGPT, Claude, Gemini. They all offer APIs. Every AI product is just calling these APIs with specific prompts. That's the "AI" part.
Automation Platforms
n8n, Zapier, Make. Connecting one tool to another. When data flows between your apps, it's one of these (or custom code doing the same thing).
Vector Databases
Pinecone, Weaviate, Supabase. Storing and searching your data intelligently. This is how AI tools "remember" things about you.
Prompt Engineering
The specific instructions given to the LLM. This is often where the "secret sauce" lives, but it's just text. Carefully crafted text, but text.
What You're Actually Paying For
The UI
A nice interface wrapped around API calls. Buttons instead of code. Often the most expensive part, and the least valuable.
The Integration Work
Someone already connected the APIs and built the workflows. You're paying for their time, not their technology.
The Hosting
Servers running 24/7. This actually costs money, but far less than your subscription suggests.
The Brand
Marketing, sales teams, customer support. A significant portion of your subscription goes here, not to features.
The Pattern You'll See Everywhere
AI Writing Tools
LLM API + prompt templates + nice editor UI. That's it. The prompts are the product.
AI Research Tools
Web scraping + LLM summarisation + vector storage. Useful, but not magic.
AI Meeting Assistants
Transcription API + LLM summary + calendar integration. Three services stitched together.
AI Sales Tools
CRM integration + LLM for emails + automation for follow-ups. The same blocks, different arrangement.
Why This Matters
Once you understand the building blocks, you realise two things.
First, you could build most of this yourself. Second, you could build something better, because you'd build it for your specific needs, not the average user.
See the Blocks, Build Your Own
Understanding the landscape is the first step. The next step is building something tailored to you.