Yup, and if commit to it and suddenly realize you need a little more flexibility than the API provides, you're probably in a worse position than if you rolled i

Yup, and if commit to it and suddenly realize you need a little more flexibility than the API provides, you're probably in a worse position than if you rolled it yourself. Real-world ML is so full of black magic and hackery that it's the LAST thing I'd try to sell as a web service.