AI Engineering
Learn LLMs, RAG, agents, secure tools, and production AI through practical insurance examples.
Agents, chatbots, and workflows
An AI agent is software that uses a model to choose actions toward a goal, observes results, and decides what to do next within application limits. A chatbot describes a conversational interface; it may or may not contain an agent. A workflow defines the…
Agent loop, reasoning/action/observation, and ReAct
An agent loop alternates decision, action, and observation. ReAct is a pattern that combines deciding what information/action is needed with executing tools and observing results. “Reasoning” here means useful task planning and decision-making, not a…
Tools, planning, state, memory, and autonomous actions
Tools are approved external capabilities. Planning breaks a goal into steps; state records current execution facts; memory carries selected information across turns or tasks. Autonomous action means the system can perform some actions without a new user…
Human-in-the-loop
Human-in-the-loop means a workflow includes a person who supplies information, reviews a result, or authorizes an action. The system can pause durably while waiting. Human approval is a business event with identity and scope, not a sentence in the prompt.
Router pattern
A router chooses a specialized path based on the request. It can use deterministic rules, a classifier, or an LLM with a bounded enum output. Routing does not automatically require a full agent loop.
Planner/executor pattern
A planner proposes steps; an executor performs permitted steps and reports results. Splitting the roles separates deciding from acting. The executor still enforces constraints rather than blindly following the plan.
Supervisor and handoff patterns
A supervisor coordinates specialized workers and often combines their outputs. A handoff transfers responsibility for a conversation or task to another specialist. Coordination and transfer are different: the supervisor may retain ownership, while a handoff…
Reflection and critic patterns
Reflection revises an output after examining it. A critic is a separate checking role that evaluates an output against criteria. Either can be model-based, rule-based, or a combination.
Multi-agent and hierarchical agents
Multi-agent systems involve several model-driven roles cooperating. Hierarchical systems organize those roles into levels of coordinators and workers. Multiple ordinary functions in a workflow are not automatically multiple agents.
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