Sam runs on two models. Smart is the default and handles almost everything. Brilliant is the more powerful one, and it costs noticeably more per message — so it is worth knowing when the swap is worth making.
The two options
Smart — fast and efficient. This is the default and the right choice for the majority of work: drafting, planning, scheduling, answering questions about your business.
Brilliant — higher quality, and it uses credits significantly faster. Expect roughly three times the credit cost per message compared with Smart.
Change it for one conversation
The quickest way is the chip beneath the message box in any chat. Select it and pick the mode you want. It applies to that chat, so you can switch to Brilliant for one hard question and drop back afterwards without changing anything globally.
Change it everywhere
To set it for your whole account, select your profile chip in the bottom-left corner and choose Settings.
Open Labs, then find AI Intelligence and turn Brilliant Mode on. Every chat uses the more powerful model from then on, until you turn it back off.
Leave Brilliant Mode off by default and reach for the chat chip when you actually need it. At roughly 3x the cost per message, leaving it on across an account with automations running is the fastest way to burn through a period's credits without noticing.
- ✓In that chat, replies come from the more powerful model straight away — no restart needed.
- ✓On your credits, each message costs about three times what Smart costs.
- ✓Everywhere else, nothing changes unless you turned it on in Labs.
Frequently Asked Questions
Which one should I use?
Smart, nearly always. Try Brilliant when a reply is close but not good enough — a tricky positioning question, or copy that keeps coming back flat — rather than as a general upgrade.
Does Brilliant Mode change my automations?
The Labs toggle is account-wide, so scheduled work is affected too. That is the setting to watch, because automations run whether or not you are looking — see Track what Sam is spending for you.
Where do I see what it cost?
AI Usage breaks down credits by day, so a switch to Brilliant shows up clearly in Credits used per day.