A production customer support system processes 500,000 requests per day. Analysis shows 70% are simple FAQ lookups requiring basic comprehension, 20% involve multi-step troubleshooting requiring reasoning, and 10% involve complex escalations needing deep analysis. An architect is designing a routing layer. Which model assignment strategy best balances cost and quality?
Select an answer to reveal the explanation.
Short Explanation and Infographic
Here's the deal — a is correct because it matches model capability to task complexity: Haiku handles simple lookups efficiently at lowest cost (70% of volume), Sonnet handles multi-step troubleshooting adequately at moderate cost (20%), and Opus handles the most complex escalations where quality is paramount (10%). B is wrong because routing everything through Sonnet wastes cost on the 70% of simple requests Haiku handles just as well.
Full explanation below image
Full Explanation
A is correct because it matches model capability to task complexity: Haiku handles simple lookups efficiently at lowest cost (70% of volume), Sonnet handles multi-step troubleshooting adequately at moderate cost (20%), and Opus handles the most complex escalations where quality is paramount (10%). B is wrong because routing everything through Sonnet wastes cost on the 70% of simple requests Haiku handles just as well. C is wrong because Haiku's reasoning capability is insufficient for multi-step troubleshooting workflows that require sustained logical chains. D is wrong because temperature controls output randomness, not reasoning depth or capability — using Haiku at higher temperature for complex queries degrades quality further.