What is Compound AI System?
TL;DR
An AI system architecture that combines multiple AI components rather than relying on a single model.
Compound AI System: Definition & Explanation
A Compound AI System is an AI system architecture that combines multiple AI models, retrieval systems, tools, and programmatic logic rather than depending on a single AI model. Proposed by Berkeley AI Research (BAIR), examples include RAG (LLM + search engine + vector DB), AI agents (LLM + tools + planner), and ensembles (combinations of multiple models). By combining the strengths of individual components, Compound AI Systems can build more reliable and controllable AI systems that exceed the limitations of any single model. Frameworks such as DSPy and LangChain support their construction.