AI architecture: the relation between model and system

23 Sep 2025 Tereza Poledníková Monika Řičicová

A model ​is a computational core—an algorithm with trained parameters that converts inputs into outputs. It performs a specific task: a classification model recognizes images, a language model generates text, and a predictive model estimates future values.

A system, on the other hand, represents the entire tool that the user interacts with, i.e., the complete application or platform that uses the model and makes it available to users; it includes the user interface, additional features, security measures, etc.

A system can be built on one or more models, and conversely, multiple systems can run on a single model.

AI TOOL MODEL SYSTEM
ChatGPT GPT-4o, GPT-4, GPT-3.5 ChatGPT by OpenAI
Copilot GPT-4, GPT-4 Turbo Copilot by Microsoft
Gemini Gemini 1.5 Pro, Gemini 1.5 Flash Gemini by Google
Claude Opus 4 and Sonnet 4 Claude by Anthropic

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