ETHORITY®
AI Decision Brief
Which AI offering should you choose?
The AI Decision Brief compares up to three offerings for your question. You receive a written recommendation signed off by Sten Franke.
€195 net · one-time
What you receive
See price, data location and limits side by side, each with a source and date. ETHORITY investigates open provider questions within the agreed scope and estimates costs for your volumes.
We deliver your brief by email within a maximum of five working days after payment is confirmed and we have agreed the question and minimum information needed to begin. ETHORITY confirms the start date and delivery date and delivers earlier when the reviewed brief is ready. Missing optional information is recorded and assessed; it does not require you to research the solution yourself. Review before delivery and email support are included.
The ETHORITY Promise
The ETHORITY Promise
We make the value clear. We take responsibility for our delivery. We make results transparent.
- A specific expected outcome, with its basis and assumptions.
- Defined deliverables, price, timing and acceptance criteria.
- Supporting evidence, accountable ownership and measurement where included.
You receive a clear recommendation, an agreed delivery commitment and transparent results. We explain the value you can expect, the basis for that assessment and what ETHORITY takes responsibility for.
- Expected value
- Before you sign, you know which of up to three AI offerings fits your use case – and what it would cost at your own volumes.
- Your deliverable
- A written comparison of each offering across eight decision criteria, with source and date for every stated fact, and a cost sketch for your volumes.
- Responsibility
- ETHORITY assesses the evidence and investigates open provider questions within the agreed scope. If a point remains open, your brief explains its effect on the decision and the next step ETHORITY recommends.
- Evidence
- Every fact carries its source, access date and ETHORITY evidence mark; each open point states what it means for the decision.
- Fixed price
- €195 plus VAT, one-time
- Delivery
- five working days once payment is confirmed and the question and minimum information are agreed
The value receipt runs through the whole assignment: the expected value before you order, then the agreed commitment, and the proof on delivery.
Scenario figures are assumed; your own figures are established in your assignment.Scope, responsibilities and evidence
- 3
- offerings compared side by sideOffer terms →
- 8
- decision facts per offering, each with an ETHORITY evidence mark and read dateOffer terms →
- 34
- product renames found in a few weeks of ETHORITY market researchResearch · ETHORITY Insight, 22 Oct 2026 →
Your decision at a glance
- You receive
- A written comparison of up to three offerings, open provider questions investigated by ETHORITY within the agreed scope, and a cost sketch on your volumes.
- Price
- €195 net · one-time
- Delivery
- We deliver your brief by email within a maximum of five working days after payment is confirmed and we have agreed the question and minimum information needed to begin. ETHORITY confirms the start date and delivery date and delivers earlier when the reviewed brief is ready. Missing optional information is recorded and assessed; it does not require you to research the solution yourself. Review before delivery and email support are included.
- What we need from you to get started
- The decision you need to make, and your volumes if you know them. A shortlist from ETHORITY Compare is welcome; without one, ETHORITY agrees up to three offerings with you before work starts.
- Next step
- Tell us the decision in front of you. ETHORITY agrees the question and up to three offerings with you.
Tell us the problem.
What ETHORITY delivers
- A written comparison of up to three offerings on eight decision facts
- Source, date and evidence mark for every fact
- Open provider questions investigated within the agreed scope
- A cost sketch on your volumes
What we need from you to get started
- The decision you need to make, and your volumes if you know them. A shortlist from ETHORITY Compare is welcome; without one, ETHORITY agrees up to three offerings with you before work starts.
The decision you need to make, and your volumes if you know them. A shortlist from ETHORITY Compare is welcome; without one, ETHORITY agrees up to three offerings with you before work starts.
Don’t know something yet? Say so. ETHORITY clarifies it with you as part of the work.
Your decision
- Which offering to pilot or buy
- Whether to commission further work
- Know which of the three fits your use before you sign.
- Every decision fact carries its source, read date and ETHORITY evidence mark.
- See the cost on your own volumes, not the provider’s example.
What you receive
- A written comparison of up to three AI offerings, selected from your shortlist or agreed with ETHORITY.
- Decision facts side by side: what it does, pricing unit, published price, data location, training on customer data, integrations, certificates and limitations, each with its ETHORITY evidence mark and read date.
- Open decision facts investigated by ETHORITY within the agreed scope, with their effect on the decision.
- A cost sketch per accepted outcome, using your volumes and assumptions.
- The conditions that matter before you sign, settled or named by ETHORITY, in one short paragraph.
Who it is for
Buyers in a business function who have used the Good AI Prism or Compare to shortlist up to three offerings: a customer-service agent, a writing assistant, an HR or finance tool. The Brief suits a team that needs a written basis for its own internal decision.
The question it answers
Of these three offerings, which fits our use, what does it really cost on our volumes, and what is still open with each provider?
How it works
- Step 1
Tell us your decision and, if you have them, the offerings you are considering.
- Step 2
ETHORITY checks whether the Brief fits and agrees up to three offerings and the scope with you; you order and pay.
- Step 3
After payment, ETHORITY researches the facts, investigates open provider questions within the agreed scope and calculates the cost on your volumes.
- Step 4
The Brief is reviewed before delivery and sent by email. Email support is included.
Packages and price
AI Decision Brief
€195 net · one-time
Up to three offerings, decision facts with evidence class and date, provider questions, cost sketch on your volumes, email support.
Request scope and delivery
See what this package includes →Terms
We deliver your brief by email within a maximum of five working days after payment is confirmed and we have agreed the question and minimum information needed to begin. ETHORITY confirms the start date and delivery date and delivers earlier when the reviewed brief is ready. Missing optional information is recorded and assessed; it does not require you to research the solution yourself. Review before delivery and email support are included.
Boundary
An analysis of published, dated facts and your assumptions, built for your team's own decision. ETHORITY takes each gap to the provider within the agreed scope.
Who is accountable for the result
Sten Franke
Founder & CEO
Sten Franke designs and builds AI systems, from model testing and cloud setup to the interfaces people use. He connects business decisions, software architecture and practical implementation.
AI architecture · Model testing · Cloud engineering · UX
His work spans programming, LLM evaluation, Google Cloud and AWS environments, and web applications built with Next.js and React. He connects business requirements, software architecture and practical implementation. Creator of the Good AI Prism, he brings market intelligence into AI decisions. Earlier, he created the Social Media Prisma, led a BVDW Social Media working group and contributed to its Social Media Kompass. His entrepreneurial work includes ethority, Gridpatrol and mediatime, following a practical foundation in electronics and industrial robotics.
sten@ethority.aiSten Franke frames the assignment, interprets the findings and signs off on the final recommendations.
Real offerings we compare against
A typical customer-service shortlist: Intercom Fin support agent, Ada with opt-in training and Zendesk AI with ISO 42001. Their profiles hold the dated facts a Brief puts side by side.
Intercom Fin
Intercom · Product
An AI agent that answers customer requests and is billed per outcome; Intercom states Fin works with “no seats required”.
- Published price
- How it is billed
- Where data is stored
- Does it train AI on your data?
Ada
Ada · Product
AI agents that answer customers by phone, messaging and email and can carry out actions.
- Where data is stored
- Certificates and audit reports
- Connects with
Zendesk AI
Zendesk · Product
AI agents inside Zendesk that answer customer requests; Zendesk bills them per “automated resolution”.
- Published price
- How it is billed
- Where data is stored
- Certificates and audit reports
Read before you decide
Before you compare: a vendor claim is not evidence.
Check every vendor claim before you rely on it.
Tie every vendor claim to the exact product, version, contract and use before you rely on it.
See the map on one page →
Global edition · EN
961 AI offerings. One map. Decide now what you will use in 2027.
The Good AI Prism helps you find useful AI and compare the evidence behind your options. For organisations already using AI, the question is moving from whether to use AI to which AI, how safely and whether it pays. This Global edition brings together 961 AI offerings across 24 topic areas, 8 data types and 6 technology layers, with sources, dates and limits to guide your next decision.
Version 2.6 · 90 pages
Open the study →
A marketplace listing does not make an AI agent trustworthy.
When you buy AI agents, keep identity, offer, payment, evidence and trust apart, and grant rights only after purchase.
See the map on one page →Want a preview?
Our examples and calculators show how we assess value and assumptions. Using them is optional. For your assignment, ETHORITY does the preparation and the assessment.
Below, the ETHORITY provider price comparison runs your volumes on the three offerings; the Stack Builder and the Model Cost Estimator go further. All tools sit in the ETHORITY AI calculator suite.
Stack Builder
Area, data type and constraints in; six technology layers with matching registry offerings and models out.
Pilot version · Scenario calculator
Open the calculator →Model Cost Estimator
Estimates the monthly cost of your workload on 17 AI models, with announced price changes and end-of-service dates.
Pilot version · Scenario calculator
Open the calculator →Compare three offerings
Puts two to four offerings side by side in the same units, each fact with its source and the date it was checked.
Questions buyers ask
What if our shortlist is longer than three?
The free Public Navigator tool narrows a longer list; the Brief is built for the final three.
Where do the facts come from?
From provider documentation, trust centres and pricing pages, each with its ETHORITY evidence mark and read date.
What if a provider does not publish a fact?
ETHORITY investigates it with that provider within the agreed scope; what stays open is listed in the Brief as a condition, with what it means for the decision.
Is the Brief a recommendation to buy?
It sets out facts and costs on your assumptions so your team can decide, and names the open points that would change the answer.
Which offerings can we compare?
Any offering with a registry profile. ETHORITY agrees the offerings with you or takes them from your selection in ETHORITY Compare; the Brief adds a cost sketch on your volumes and investigates open points within the agreed scope.
ETHORITY · LONG READ
A shortlist is not a decision. The facts make it one.
Most AI purchases narrow to two or three options and then stall. The missing piece is rarely another demo. It is the same facts, dated and side by side.
Most AI purchases narrow to two or three options. What turns the shortlist into a decision is not another demo but the same facts, dated and side by side.
By the time a team has a shortlist, it has usually seen the demos. Every offering on it looks capable. What the team lacks is a way to compare them on the facts that decide a purchase: how the price is counted, where data is stored, whether customer data trains the model, which systems it connects to, and what the provider says it cannot do.
Those facts exist, but they sit in different places for each provider: a pricing page, a trust centre, a data-processing addendum, a help article. They also change quickly. In its research for the Good AI Prism market study, ETHORITY found 34 product renames within a few weeks. A fact without a date is a guess about the present.
The AI Decision Brief puts the decisive facts for up to three offerings into one table. Each fact carries its ETHORITY evidence mark, so a reader can tell a documented term from a marketing line, and its read date. Where a provider does not publish a fact, ETHORITY takes the gap to the provider, because an unpublished data location is itself useful information.
Costs come next. A per-seat price and a per-resolution price cannot be compared until they are applied to the same volume. The Brief does that on your numbers, per accepted outcome, so the comparison reflects your workload rather than the provider's example.
The method follows the buyer's guide to 961 AI offerings: start with the job, not the tool, and compare only what you can source. The Brief gives your team a written decision basis. ETHORITY investigates open provider questions within the agreed scope and records what remains unknown; a provider response is not guaranteed.
Sources and further reading
Scenario
An insurer compares three offerings
A mid-sized insurer handles 40,000 customer conversations a month. The figures and recommendation are specific to this example.
- The questionWhich offering fits this volume of customer conversations?
- The shortlistCompare Intercom Fin, Ada and Zendesk AI.
- The evidenceThe billing units differ. Ada’s price at this volume is still open.
- The deliverableThree offerings side by side, with dated sources and a cost sketch.
- The next stepETHORITY investigates Ada’s price. Then test Fin and Zendesk AI in a bounded pilot, agreed separately.
From the deliverable
What counts as a billable outcome?
Fin bills per Fin outcome and Zendesk per verified automated resolution. ETHORITY investigates Ada’s price for the planned volume.
Sources checked 17–20 October 2026 · ScenarioExplore the evidence and full sample pages
A pilot is agreed separately. You decide on the next engagement.
Read the example as text
AI Decision Brief, finished deliverable (Scenario): Only one of the three publishes a price per outcome. Price: Intercom Fin From $0.99 per outcome, Ada Open · ETHORITY investigates, Zendesk AI No price per resolution published; Billed by: Intercom Fin Per Fin outcome, Ada Open · ETHORITY investigates, Zendesk AI Per verified automated resolution; Data location: Intercom Fin US · EU · Australia, Ada Set in the enterprise agreement, Zendesk AI US · Europe · Asia-Pacific; Trains on your data: Intercom Fin Used unless you opt out, Ada Only after opt-in, Zendesk AI Open · ETHORITY investigates; Certificates: Intercom Fin Open · ETHORITY investigates, Ada SOC 2 Type II · AIUC-1, Zendesk AI SOC 2 Type II · ISO 27001. Cost sketch (40,000 conversations a month; Assumption: half resolved by AI): Intercom Fin From $19,800 a month, model price only, Ada Price open · ETHORITY investigates, Zendesk AI Included automated resolutions · ETHORITY checks the allowance and overage terms. Sources checked 17–20 Oct 2026. ETHORITY recommends: Evaluate Intercom Fin and Zendesk AI in a six-week pilot and first investigate Ada’s undisclosed price. ETHORITY investigates provider questions within the agreed scope; a pilot is agreed separately. You decide on the next engagement.
1 / 5 · The question
Three tools on your shortlist. Which one fits?
Scenario
Read exhibit data
Scenario inputs and conditional examples; not a delivered client result or released recommendation.
AI Decision Brief · Decision question · Scenario
Which of these three fits our customer service, at our volumes?
- Who asks: Mid-sized insurer
- Volumes: 40,000 conversations a month
- You get: The best fit, with sources
See 3 sample pages · Scenario
What the deliverable looks like
Scenario: the sample shows structure, detail and questions; it is not a client result.
We deliver your brief by email within a maximum of five working days after payment is confirmed and we have agreed the question and minimum information needed to begin. ETHORITY confirms the start date and delivery date and delivers earlier when the reviewed brief is ready. Missing optional information is recorded and assessed; it does not require you to research the solution yourself. Review before delivery and email support are included.
- Up to three offerings, agreed with you or taken from your ETHORITY Compare selection
- Price, data location, integrations and limits, each with source and date
- Open provider questions, investigated by ETHORITY within the agreed scope
- A cost sketch based on your own volumes
Page 1 / 3
Read sample data
AI Decision Brief · Sample page 1 of 3 · Scenario
Up to three AI offerings, compared by ETHORITY on dated facts before you buy.
Scenario: a mid-sized insurer compares Intercom Fin, Ada and Zendesk AI for its customer service.
Prepared by Sten Franke · ETHORITY · Within five working days once payment is confirmed and the question and minimum information are agreed
Get a comparison for your own question
Start with one decision question. Include a shortlist if you already have one.
€195 net · one-time