What is a Mixture of Experts?

Most AI models treat every question the same way, running all of their processing power on every task. A mixture of experts works differently. Instead of one generalist system handling everything, the model is divided into specialized components — the "experts" — each better suited to certain kinds of tasks. When a question comes in, the model quickly routes it to whichever expert or experts are best equipped to handle it, leaving the rest idle. The result is a system that can be much larger and more capable overall without being slower or more expensive to run, because only a fraction of it is working at any given moment.