Accelerating Llm Inference With Speculative Decoding Lessons From Linkedins Hiring Assistant
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LinkedIn Engineering
Author
LinkedIn Engineering
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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.
token — The chunk of text a model reads and writes in — roughly three-quarters of a word — and the unit AI usage is billed in.
speculative decoding — A speed trick where a small model drafts several tokens ahead and the big model verifies them in one pass, often doubling generation speed.
context window — The maximum amount of text a model can consider at once — its working memory for the current conversation or task.
Why it matters
speculative decodingA speed trick where a small model drafts several tokens ahead and the big model verifies them in one pass, often doubling generation speed.Full definition → cuts generation latency without changing outputs, and this is a production account of where acceptance rates pay off for long-context windowThe maximum amount of text a model can consider at once — its working memory for the current conversation or task.Full definition →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 → responses.