Title: Discussion 12 — Centralized Supervisor or Decentralized Swarm?
Course: AIINFRA 300: Agentic AI & the Model Context Protocol (MCP) > Section: Week 12 — Multi-Agent Orchestration and Handoffs

💬 Discussion 12 — Centralized Supervisor or Decentralized Swarm? (20 pts)

Imagine a task that genuinely decomposes into three specialist roles (for example: a customer-support triage flow with a billing specialist, a technical-troubleshooting specialist, and an escalation specialist). Would you architect this as a centralized supervisor or a decentralized swarm of agents handing off directly to one another? Name the specific failure mode you are most trying to avoid with your choice (e.g., single point of failure, silent miscommunication in a handoff, runaway handoff loops, loss of auditability), and explain how your chosen pattern addresses it. Post your initial response (150+ words), then respond to at least two classmates — ideally at least one classmate who chose the opposite pattern from you. Push on their reasoning: what would break their choice under load, or under an ambiguous request?