Format

Explainers

Plain-language guides to concepts and techniques. Every explainer published by GenAI Brief, selected across topics.

An editorial mix across topics. Dates show when each story was published or updated.

41 stories · page 4 of 4

  1. ToolsExplainer

    MCP gateway explained: what it does and when agent teams need one

    An MCP gateway puts one governed endpoint between agents and the MCP servers they call. How tool filtering, upstream auth, audit and token control work, and where the risks sit.

    18 min read

  2. ResearchExplainer

    What reasoning models actually do: a training recipe and a token budget

    Reasoning models are ordinary LLMs post-trained with RL on checkable problems, then given a thinking budget at inference. The lineage, the training loop, the costs, and where the gains actually land.

    27 min read

  3. ToolsExplainer

    Semantic caching for LLMs: how it works and where it goes wrong

    Semantic caching replays a stored LLM answer when a new prompt means the same thing. How thresholds, vector stores and cache keys work, how it differs from prompt caching, and how to measure savings.

    18 min read

  4. IndustryExplainer

    The real cost of an AI product, line by line: tokens are rarely the biggest line

    A sourced ledger of what a production AI feature costs in September 2026: inference, retrieval, agents, evaluation, gateways, review and people, with a worked monthly model at three volumes.

    24 min read

  5. ToolsExplainer

    What is an AI gateway? How it works, when you need one and how to choose

    An AI gateway sits between applications and model providers to handle keys, budgets, failover, caching, guardrails and logs. How the request path works, and when a team actually needs one.

    18 min read