This has nothing to do with AI specifically. Basically if you are hiring a contractor/consultant you are doing one of two things - bringing on capacity, or bringing on capability. Sometime a mix of both.
The former category buys you a little bit of flexibility in hiring, etc., so you should be willing to pay a little more than you would fully loaded (e.g. 1.25.x - 2x salary, depending on a bunch of factors) with no complaint, but that's about it. The great thing about capacity freelancers is you can turn them on and off easily as your needs change.
That capability category is a vastly different space though. Imagine I'm a specialized skill/experience sort of consultant or freelancer. If you hire me to show you how to do something you don't know how to do, how much is that worth? Or what if bringing me on for 3 months can pull your time-to-market ahead by a year? Maybe you would love to hire me full time but can't afford it (or I just don't want full time with you) - or maybe you just don't have enough of this sort of work to justify an expensive hire.
It all comes down to value. If 50k worth of my time will save you 3 million dollars, why do you care how much time that is?
Sometimes a 2 hour conversation can save you from a 300k mistake. Should I be charging you for the time, or the impact?
Just responded to the person you were responding to, but well put. In my case it was very much the latter, and we don't know the true results yet, but will potentially allow us to get operational significantly faster, with fewer mistakes, with a better product. Win win win.
The former category buys you a little bit of flexibility in hiring, etc., so you should be willing to pay a little more than you would fully loaded (e.g. 1.25.x - 2x salary, depending on a bunch of factors) with no complaint, but that's about it. The great thing about capacity freelancers is you can turn them on and off easily as your needs change.
That capability category is a vastly different space though. Imagine I'm a specialized skill/experience sort of consultant or freelancer. If you hire me to show you how to do something you don't know how to do, how much is that worth? Or what if bringing me on for 3 months can pull your time-to-market ahead by a year? Maybe you would love to hire me full time but can't afford it (or I just don't want full time with you) - or maybe you just don't have enough of this sort of work to justify an expensive hire.
It all comes down to value. If 50k worth of my time will save you 3 million dollars, why do you care how much time that is?
Sometimes a 2 hour conversation can save you from a 300k mistake. Should I be charging you for the time, or the impact?