Benchmarks are useful and misleading at the same time. A single number compresses a model's whole personality into a digit. Personalities do not compress. - Benchmarks test specific capabilities under specific conditions. A model can top one and still be mediocre at your task. - They get gamed, intentionally or not. Training data overlaps test sets more often than anyone admits. - Read them as shortlisting: three candidates within a few points means the benchmark did its job. The decision moves to things benchmarks cannot measure. - The real test: five of your own prompts, your data, your judgment. Thirty minutes of that beats thirty leaderboards. Want it evaluated on your machines instead? PrivateLLM deploy puts a private LLM on your AWS for $50 plus usage.