Why We Killed Our Multi-Agent Pipeline — Subbiah Sethuraman and Abhilash Asokan, ZS Associates
Source
AI Engineer
Author
AI Engineer
Date
Terms in this piece · Glossary
AI agent — An AI system that doesn't just answer once but works toward a goal in a loop — taking actions, reading the results, and deciding what to do next.
multi-agent — Using several AI agents on one problem — splitting work in parallel, checking each other, or filling different roles like planner and reviewer.
Why it matters
A concrete field-tested case for collapsing brittle multi-agentUsing several AI agents on one problem — splitting work in parallel, checking each other, or filling different roles like planner and reviewer.Full definition → pipelines into a single reasoning AI agentAn AI system that doesn't just answer once but works toward a goal in a loop — taking actions, reading the results, and deciding what to do next.Full definition → backed by deterministic signal detection and a knowledge graph used as a testable control plane rather than a lookup table — a practical pattern for bounding agent search and improving coherence.
Key quotes
“it has actually derived the right fact, but then there is no single agent which is owning which understands the end-to-end picture basically”
Subbiah Sethuraman
“So, the agent's job is to investigate, not to identify.”
Abhilash Asokan
“So, the knowledge graph is not just something the agent looks up for data. It is a control plane for the agent.”
Abhilash Asokan
“it's able to produce something an analyst was able to produce maybe in three or four weeks in like maybe 20 30 minutes.”
Abhilash Asokan
“any complex workflows will have deterministic parts and agentic parts. Don't let agents actually run the deterministic part, right?”
Subbiah Sethuraman
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