AI EngineeringInterview preparation
Advanced·Concept·2 min read

Which parts are deterministic and which are agentic?

Practice this question
ResponsibilityApproachWhy
Login, tenant/customer identityDeterministicPermissions cannot depend on a model
Policy ownership and active version resolutionDeterministic service lookupAuthoritative applicability must be verified
Exact claim statusDeterministic authorized toolThe backend is the source of truth
Premium/deductible calculationsDeterministic business rulesExact numerical/business behavior
Policy clause retrievalControlled search serviceEligibility, versions, and budgets are explicit
Explain retrieved wordingLLM with source groundingUseful language transformation
Interpret accident descriptionStructured model extractionHandles varied natural language
Ask for missing fields/documentsRules plus bounded agent wordingRules know what is required; model communicates
Choose among safe information toolsBounded agent/graphNext information need may vary
Create/update draftDeterministic record write from validated proposalDraft lifecycle and concurrency need control
Determine required approvalDeterministic policyRisk controls cannot be negotiated by prompt
Submit claim / modify policyAuthorized deterministic workflowExact consent, business invariants, idempotency
Claim denial or settlementAuthoritative rules and authorized human processConsequential adjudication is outside casual agent authority
Draft emailLLM allowedLanguage assistance
Send emailApproved recipients/content + deterministic senderExternal effect and disclosure risk
Retention, deletion, auditingDeterministic policies/servicesConsistent data governance

Agentic portion: interpreting wording, gathering missing information, and choosing among bounded read/search actions. Workflow portion: identity, required fields, approvals, transaction order, retries, and durable outcomes. LangGraph can coordinate the conversation; a durable business workflow coordinates a multi-day operational claim process if required. MCP is optional when several hosts reuse the tools.

Adapted from 13_AI.MD · “Which parts are deterministic and which are agentic?”. Code examples are study fragments. Difficulty and core labels are editorial estimates; version-specific behavior should be checked against your project.