Treat Output Tokens Like a Premium Material
Reduce waste by treating output length as a premium cost line, not a free side effect.
Output is not free In many pricing tables, output tokens cost far more than input. That means “helpful and thorough” can be an expensive product decision, not just a wording choice. Design the answer, not just the prompt Good cost control specifies the smallest useful artifact: a class label, a short summary, a JSON object, or three bullets with one reason each. Routing then becomes easier because smaller models often perform well when the target shape is tight. Caching helps when the instructions stay stable. Batching helps if long-form outputs are still needed but can be delayed. Mechanism Constrained outputs…
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