Series : AI Isn’t an Engineering Problem Anymore (Part 4) It’s a cost problem—and most teams don’t realize it yet. In the last post, I talked about where AI costs actually come from—and how context growth quietly compounds them. But there’s another pattern that’s even more uncomfortable once you notice it: you’re probably paying twice for the same underlying answer Not literally the exact same string. But functionally, the same work. The obvious version Let’s start with something simple. You ask: “Why can’t my rover perform a zero-radius turn?” Then later you ask: “What could cause skid-steer instability at low speeds?” Different wording. Same underlying problem. The subtle version (this is where it gets interesting) Now imagine a debugging session. You go through a loop: ask a question get a partial answer refine your prompt ask again Each step feels like progress.…