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@dharmesh advised on 2026-06-17 (internal HubSpot presentation) to avoid using…

2026-06-17 · 06:23 UTC ·@dharmesh ·0 min read

Brief

Do not infer with AI that which can be queried without: @dharmesh told HubSpot on 2026-06-17 that many problems are better solved by structured queries (e.g., SQL) because they are more economical, faster, and predictable than feeding unstructured text into LLM context windows and relying on inference.

Why it matters

@dharmesh advised on 2026-06-17 (internal HubSpot presentation) to avoid using LLM inference when a structured query can answer the question.

Key details

  • He highlights SQL as an example of a structured query approach that is more economical, faster, and predictable than passing unstructured text into an LLM context window.
  • Core recommendation: prefer direct queries over LLM-based inference for many use cases to reduce cost, latency, and unpredictability.
Source evidence

Do not infer with AI that which can be queried without.

That's from an internal presentation I gave at HubSpot today.

LLMs are great, but there are a lot of use cases that are much better handled with a structured query (like SQL). It's much more economical, much faster and predictable.

Just because an LLM can potentially answer a question you have by passing a bunch of unstructured text into the context window doesn't mean you should.