Model Routing Discipline

Model routing discipline treats model selection as a per-task decision rather than a per-agency default. Foundation model platforms price per million tokens and cap context per tier, so a retainer that runs every job through a frontier model burns margin on work a smaller tier handles at a fraction of the cost. The discipline has three moves: inventory the deliverable types an agency produces, assign each to the cheapest tier that clears the quality bar, then re-test quarterly as new releases land. OpenAI's October 2, 2026 guide splits the GPT-6 family into three variants for prototyping, feature development, and multi-step orchestration, which is exactly the tiering decision agencies now have to make explicit. Teams that route by task keep delivery costs predictable across client accounts; teams that route by habit pay frontier prices for draft work.