Russian Dolls of AI: LLM, RAG, Agents, and How We Know They Work

LLM, RAG, agent, multi-agent system. Four terms we throw around as if they named four rival technologies. They actually name four Russian dolls: each one contains the previous one, and adds a single new piece.

We’ll open them one at a time. At every level, two questions: what does this new piece make possible that wasn’t before, and how do we know it’s doing its job?

Because the answer to that second question changes completely from one level to the next, and that’s usually where projects stumble.

You’ll leave with a map: where your own system sits, what separates it from the level below, and what to look at to check it delivers what it promises. Without necessarily needing the biggest doll.