AI Usage: Are You Vibing or Building? Your Wallet Might Know

This post was originally published on Israeli Tech Radar.

Artificial intelligence is rapidly changing how we work and create. We’re using it for everything from drafting quick emails to designing complex systems. But how we interact with AI — the “usage model” — significantly impacts both the results we get and the money we spend, if your not spending money on A.I / plan to but not dure on what stay tuned and lets start thinking in “token” which might fit in to 2 code categories:

🖥️ Vibing with the AI: The Decoder Model

This is the most common way many people currently use AI. It’s the back-and-forth chat, the quick question, the request for a draft. The AI acts like a decoder, taking your input and spitting out a relevant response.

Think of it like brainstorming with a helpful but sometimes unfocused assistant. You throw out ideas, and it gives you reactions and suggestions.

Examples:

• Asking for various email drafts
• Getting summaries of articles
• Generating social media posts on the fly
• Quick coding snippets
• Generating presentations

The Cost Factor: This model often operates on a per-token basis. You pay for each piece of text you input and each piece the AI generates. While the cost per token might seem small, the sheer volume of interactions can quickly add up.

It’s easy to fall into the trap of generating multiple options, refining prompts repeatedly, and essentially “chatting” your way to a higher bill without a clear plan.

I have my share of vibe sessions which got me no where in terms of results and i’ve had some well planned ones which were worth while, some tools work better that others, the most important part I find in vibing that with the terminal / console based experiences it’s like the A.I driven shell from Warp / Claude Code / Gemini and Open source solutions such as opencode we have this super-charged terminal that can be instructed to do so many things for the cost of more tokens …

Choosing the right model for the job will help you control those, and you need to learn how to delegate and switch some of the toolings out there may recommend them for you but you will have to learn and choose what kind of tasks you want to take on your own and what you wish to delegate.

And for that purpose you have the planning phase …

🏗️ Building with the AI: The Architect Model

This is a much more structured and deliberate use of an AI. It’s about solving a complex problem that requires planning, reasoning, and a structured output. The AI acts more like an architect or a thinker.

Think of it like collaborating with an experienced consultant who helps you design a complete solution, not just react to immediate requests.

Examples:

• Designing a marketing strategy
• Outlining a complex software architecture
• Generating detailed business plans
• Creating a multi-step project roadmap

The Cost Factor:

This model often involves a higher cost per interaction or even a different pricing structure altogether. The AI needs more computational power and time to “think” and plan before generating a response. You’re paying for its reasoning capabilities, not just the raw number of tokens.

However, a well-planned interaction can lead to a more valuable and efficient outcome, potentially saving you time and resources in the long run, understanding these two usage models is crucial for being efficient and cost-effective. Choose your AI interaction model with intention, and you’ll be able to harness its power without unnecessary expense.

If your just practicing “advanced search with A.I” which may help for the some common use-cases the standard GPT’s and their free tier could take you a long way, may it be vibing or building , it might get you some good starting point for free and in some cases you may find yourself spending more than your gaining … .

For individuals the breakdown may be quite simple looking at a bill of one of the 3 big vendors our there and for coders such as myself, I may find myself with a cursor / claude / kiro monthly costs that slowly grow.

For an organization it might be quite a challenging task which we will tackle in my next post in this series, stay tuned.

Haggai Philip.