Free text: define the decision-making scope the system needs
A model can process free text within a fixed workflow. Additional freedom to act needs a concrete purpose.
Where does the system actually need to decide?
Free text at the input tells us little about how freely a system should act later. A message may need language analysis while the possible follow-up actions are already defined. For the architecture decision, describe those tasks separately: what must be understood from the message, and which decisions remain open afterwards?
A fictional service business wants to structure incoming messages. The destinations are Technical Service, Billing and Review. A model is to suggest a category and briefly summarise the request. The application checks the permitted category, allowable data fields and access rights for the destination. Unclear or mixed requests go for review. The responsible person can correct the suggestion before it is applied.
Examine the required freedom against the workflow
Requirement in the example | Suitable starting point | What needs checking |
|---|---|---|
Assign and summarise a message for a known destination | Fixed workflow with a limited model step | The category, open issues and original message remain traceable for checking |
Obtain different further information according to intermediate results | Investigate bounded agentic processing | Permitted tools, stopping and handover conditions, and the additional benefit |
For the first row, a freely planning agent has no demonstrated advantage yet. A fixed process can be assessed using suitable and difficult messages. This includes checking whether an unfamiliar request visibly reaches a responsible person. A formally permitted category is insufficient evidence of correct assignment.
If the task later changes so that the next useful research path only emerges from a search result, bounded agentic processing may justify a trial. This needs comparison with the existing process: are more requests handled correctly, what new errors arise, and who handles open cases? The model receives the decision-making scope that can be justified for this task.
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