# Hire an OpenAI and LLM developer > An OpenAI and LLM developer adds AI features to your product: a chat assistant, text writing, summaries, search over your documents or image features. Hire one when AI should be part of what your product does, not a bolt-on. Canonical: https://erdibuilds.app/hire/openai Last updated: 2026-11-06 (November 6, 2026) ## What the work looks like A large language model (An AI model trained on lots of text that can answer questions, write and summarise. ChatGPT is built on one.), or LLM, is called by your app through an API. The real work is around it: what you send, what comes back, how you keep answers grounded in your own content, and what happens when the model is wrong or slow. - Assistants that answer questions about your product or documents. - Writing helpers, translators and summarisers inside a workflow. - Tools that read documents or images and pull out the data. - Automations that decide, sort or draft replies. These are the building blocks of an [AI product](https://erdibuilds.app/build/ai-product). The developer usually works with a backend in [Python](https://erdibuilds.app/hire/python) or [Node.js](https://erdibuilds.app/hire/nodejs) and a front end in [Next.js](https://erdibuilds.app/hire/nextjs) or a mobile tool. Other AI providers exist, and a good developer will tell you if another model suits your case better. ## What to ask an LLM developer - How will we measure whether the answers are good enough? Can we put together a set of test questions? - How do you stop the model from making things up about my content? - How do you keep my private data out of places it should not go? - What happens when the service is slow, down or returns something unexpected? - How do you track and limit usage so the bill stays predictable? - How do you keep the keys safe, and can we switch the model later? > AI answers are never perfect. Plan for review steps where a person checks important output, and let the developer show how mistakes are handled. ## A sensible order of milestones Start small and test with real examples before building screens. Each milestone is funded before work starts and runs 1, 2, 3, 4, 6 or 8 weeks. The weeks in this example are for illustration, and developers set the length of each milestone in their proposal. Milestones are from 50 to 2,000 each in your project currency. 1. Prototype (for example, weeks 1 to 2): one core task works with your sample content, results shown in a simple page. 2. Quality set (for example, weeks 3 to 4): test questions, scoring of answers, first round of tuning. 3. Product (for example, weeks 5 to 7): logins, saving history, usage limits, error handling, a clean interface. 4. Launch (for example, week 8): monitoring, cost alerts, privacy notes, handover. ## Matching for AI work Developers can list OpenAI under Expert in (At most 6 entries, the technologies they know best.) or under Also works with (Technologies they have used before.). Your project is scored on this, on help type and project type, and on portfolio, budget fit and availability. The score is 0 to 100 and comes with plain reasons. At least 40 is needed to apply. 80 or more earns a Top match badge. Proposals reach you sorted by score. ## Frequently asked questions ### Is this the same as ChatGPT? ChatGPT is a finished product. The OpenAI API gives developers access to OpenAI's models, so you can build similar features into your own product. ### Is my data used to train models? Providers have their own data terms, and they change. Read the current terms of the service the developer uses and ask for a plain summary. ### Will usage costs surprise me? Not if limits are built in. Ask for usage tracking, per-user limits and cost alerts as part of the work. ### I built a prototype with AI tools. Can a developer finish it? Yes. See [finish your AI-built app](https://erdibuilds.app/help/finish-your-ai-built-app). ## Related - [Hire a Python developer for data and AI](https://erdibuilds.app/hire/python): Python powers servers, data work and AI features. See what a Python developer builds, what to ask them and how a project is planned. - [Hire a Node.js developer for your server](https://erdibuilds.app/hire/nodejs): Node.js runs the server side of apps and APIs. Learn what a Node.js developer builds, what to ask and how milestones and matching work. - [Build an AI product with a developer](https://erdibuilds.app/build/ai-product): Plan a product built around AI models: typical building blocks, a milestone plan with testing, what to write in the brief and how to judge a developer. - [Finish Your AI-Built App with a Developer](https://erdibuilds.app/help/finish-your-ai-built-app): Started an app with an AI tool and stuck near the finish? See the usual gaps, from secret keys to payments, and how to find a developer to take over. - [Free project brief generator](https://erdibuilds.app/tools/project-brief): Answer a few guided questions and get a clean project description to copy or download. Runs in your browser and stores nothing.