Structure matters more than models

There is an obsession in AI with models. Bigger models, newer models, faster models. This focus is understandable, but mostly misplaced.

In practice, a mediocre model inside a well-designed system will outperform a brilliant model dropped into disorder. Structure determines how information flows, how uncertainty is handled, and how errors are corrected. Models only fill in the blanks.

A strong system answers questions before the model is ever invoked. What is the objective. What constraints apply. What constitutes success. What actions are reversible. What actions are dangerous. When to defer to a human. When to do nothing.

Without structure, models hallucinate responsibility. With structure, they become tools.

The most valuable AI work today is not inventing intelligence. It is designing interfaces between intelligence and reality. That is where reliability is won or lost.