Correction
Compute is a product decision
The earlier article attributed general claims about deployment tradeoffs to Google Cloud without a specific supporting document. We withdraw those attributions.
The SmolLM release describes small language models and local execution. It provides a concrete example to investigate when comparing deployment options; it does not establish a universal claim about cost, speed, or reliability.
This notice replaces the earlier text. The original URL is retained so readers can see the correction. The reference below was checked during this review and is not presented as the original article's source.