Hiring a senior AI engineer takes months and a salary you cannot easily reverse. Before you have traction, that is a large bet on a single person.
Embedding a crew is the opposite: senior people now, for a known scope, that you can stop or scale the moment your situation changes. You trade a little ownership for a lot of optionality.
The test is simple. If you know exactly what to build for the next year and can afford to be wrong about one hire, hire. If you are still finding the shape of the product, embed until the shape is clear.
Most founders are in the second case and pretend they are in the first. Be honest about which one you are in, and the decision makes itself.