AI Solution Architecture
Design AI features that actually ship — choosing the right approach, model, and tradeoffs before writing code.
Most AI material teaches you to build. This course teaches you to decide — whether to use AI at all, and if so, how to build it well.
It is written for architects and senior engineers who own the how of an AI feature: the approach, the model, and the tradeoffs, settled before a line of code is written.
The discipline is simple to state and hard to practice: match the solution to the problem and the constraints. The simplest approach that meets the requirements wins, and you prove it with evaluations rather than opinions.
What you'll be able to do
- Decide when AI is the right tool and when plain software wins
- Choose between prompting, RAG, fine-tuning, and agents for a given problem
- Select a model by capability tier rather than by brand name
- Design for cost, latency, reliability, and privacy from day one
- Write a lightweight AI design doc that survives model churn
Curriculum
Module 1: Thinking Like an AI Architect
FreeStart from the problem and the constraints, not the technology. When plain software beats AI, how to choose build versus buy versus API, the tradeoff triangle of quality, cost, and latency, and why data and privacy come first.
Module 2: Choosing Your Approach and Model
PremiumThe decision path from prompting to RAG to fine-tuning to agents, selecting a model by capability tier instead of by name, grounding versus giant context windows, and designing evaluation in from day one.
- The decision path: prompt, RAG, fine-tune, agents15 min
- Selecting a model by capability tier, not name14 min
- Context windows and grounding14 min
- Designing for evaluation from day one15 min
Module 3: Production-Grade Design
PremiumCost and latency architecture with caching and routing, reliability and fallbacks, input and output guardrails, avoiding vendor lock-in, and capturing the whole decision in a lightweight AI design doc.
- Cost and latency architecture15 min
- Reliability and fallbacks14 min
- Guardrails and safety14 min
- Avoiding lock-in and writing the design doc16 min
Get the full course.
Start Module 1 free today. More modules coming soon.
Want all 71? Get the All-Access Bundle for $99 — one purchase, every course.