Multi-Agent AI Explained: Why Specialists Beat Generalists
· 6 min read
Multi-agent AI splits a goal across specialist agents that delegate and coordinate. Here is how orchestration works and where it pays off.
The context problem
A single agent handling a long, mixed task accumulates context until quality drops. Splitting the work across specialists keeps each context tight and each role clear.
How orchestration works
A coordinator builds the plan and assigns steps. Each agent receives the skills and tools it needs, works its step, and returns a result that feeds the next.
- Coding agents handle repository and terminal work.
- Document agents handle conversion, OCR and packaging.
- Research agents handle browsing and extraction.
- Operations agents handle scheduling and reporting.