Generative AI development is the work of building software around models that produce new content, such as text, speech, images or code, in response to an input.
The model is the smallest part of that work. A generative feature in production needs four things around the model: the right context supplied with each request, a defined shape for the output, a check that the output is acceptable, and a limit on what each request may cost. A demo skips all four, which is why a feature that impressed in a meeting can fail once real users arrive.
Generative AI is often confused with agentic AI. A generative feature takes one request and returns one piece of content, and your own code decides what happens next. An agent uses the same kind of model to decide and carry out a series of actions. Many products need only the first, and it is cheaper to build and easier to test.
Predictive machine learning, generative AI and agentic AI compared | Predictive ML | Generative AI | Agentic AI |
| What it produces | A score, a class or a forecast | New content: text, speech, images, code | A completed task, through a series of actions |
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| Typical use | Fraud scoring, demand forecasts | Drafting, summarizing, narration, extraction | Handling a ticket, a phone call or a code change from start to finish |
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| Who decides the next step | Your code | Your code | The model, within the limits you set |
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| Main risk | Accuracy drifts as data changes | Fluent output that is wrong | Wrong actions and runaway cost |
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When the task needs actions as well as content, see AI agent development.