Barbarians at the Gate: How AI is Upending Systems Research

• URL: http://arxiv.org/abs/2510.06189v3
• Date: Fri, 10 Oct 2025 17:53:53 GMT
• Title: Barbarians at the Gate: How AI is Upending Systems Research
• Authors: Audrey Cheng, Shu Liu, Melissa Pan, Zhifei Li, Bowen Wang, Alex Krentsel, Tian Xia, Mert Cemri, Jongseok Park, Shuo Yang, Jeff Chen, Lakshya Agrawal, Aditya Desai, Jiarong Xing, Koushik Sen, Matei Zaharia, Ion Stoica,
• Abstract summary: We argue that systems research, long focused on designing and evaluating new performance-oriented algorithms, is particularly well-suited for AI-driven solution discovery.<n>We term this approach as AI-Driven Research for Systems ( ADRS), which iteratively generates, evaluates, and refines solutions.<n>Our results highlight both the disruptive potential and the urgent need to adapt systems research practices in the age of AI.
• Score: 58.95406995634148
• License: http://arxiv.org/licenses/nonexclusive-distrib/1.0/
• Abstract: Artificial Intelligence (AI) is starting to transform the research process as we know it by automating the discovery of new solutions. Given a task, the typical AI-driven approach is (i) to generate a set of diverse solutions, and then (ii) to verify these solutions and select one that solves the problem. Crucially, this approach assumes the existence of a reliable verifier, i.e., one that can accurately determine whether a solution solves the given problem. We argue that systems research, long focused on designing and evaluating new performance-oriented algorithms, is particularly well-suited for AI-driven solution discovery. This is because system performance problems naturally admit reliable verifiers: solutions are typically implemented in real systems or simulators, and verification reduces to running these software artifacts against predefined workloads and measuring performance. We term this approach as AI-Driven Research for Systems (ADRS), which iteratively generates, evaluates, and refines solutions. Using penEvolve, an existing open-source ADRS instance, we present case studies across diverse domains, including load balancing for multi-region cloud scheduling, Mixture-of-Experts inference, LLM-based SQL queries, and transaction scheduling. In multiple instances, ADRS discovers algorithms that outperform state-of-the-art human designs (e.g., achieving up to 5.0x runtime improvements or 50% cost reductions). We distill best practices for guiding algorithm evolution, from prompt design to evaluator construction, for existing frameworks. We then discuss the broader implications for the systems community: as AI assumes a central role in algorithm design, we argue that human researchers will increasingly focus on problem formulation and strategic guidance. Our results highlight both the disruptive potential and the urgent need to adapt systems research practices in the age of AI.

Related papers

• Advances and Frontiers of LLM-based Issue Resolution in Software Engineering: A Comprehensive Survey [59.3507264893654]
  Issue resolution is a complex Software Engineering task integral to real-world development.<n> benchmarks like SWE-bench revealed this task as profoundly difficult for large language models.<n>This paper presents a systematic survey of this emerging domain.
  arXiv  Detail & Related papers  (2026-01-15T18:55:03Z)
• Let the Barbarians In: How AI Can Accelerate Systems Performance Research [80.43506848683633]
  We term this iterative cycle of generation, evaluation, and refinement AI-Driven Research for Systems.<n>We demonstrate that ADRS-generated solutions can match or even outperform human state-of-the-art designs.
  arXiv  Detail & Related papers  (2025-12-16T18:51:23Z)
• SelfAI: Building a Self-Training AI System with LLM Agents [79.10991818561907]
  SelfAI is a general multi-agent platform that combines a User Agent for translating high-level research objectives into standardized experimental configurations.<n>An Experiment Manager orchestrates parallel, fault-tolerant training across heterogeneous hardware while maintaining a structured knowledge base for continuous feedback.<n>Across regression, computer vision, scientific computing, medical imaging, and drug discovery benchmarks, SelfAI consistently achieves strong performance and reduces redundant trials.
  arXiv  Detail & Related papers  (2025-11-29T09:18:39Z)
• A Comprehensive Survey on Benchmarks and Solutions in Software Engineering of LLM-Empowered Agentic System [56.40989626804489]
  This survey provides the first holistic analysis of Large Language Models-powered software engineering.<n>We review over 150 recent papers and propose a taxonomy along two key dimensions: (1) Solutions, categorized into prompt-based, fine-tuning-based, and agent-based paradigms, and (2) Benchmarks, including tasks such as code generation, translation, and repair.
  arXiv  Detail & Related papers  (2025-10-10T06:56:50Z)
• Compound AI Systems Optimization: A Survey of Methods, Challenges, and Future Directions [20.918377245475615]
  Advances in large language models and AI systems have led to a paradigm shift in the design and optimization of complex AI.<n>This paper provides a systematic review of recent progress in optimizing compound AI systems, encompassing both numerical and language-based techniques.<n>We formalize the notion of compound AI system optimization, classify existing methods along several key dimensions, and highlight open research challenges and future directions in this rapidly evolving field.
  arXiv  Detail & Related papers  (2025-06-09T21:04:14Z)
• Edge-Cloud Collaborative Computing on Distributed Intelligence and Model Optimization: A Survey [58.50944604905037]
  Edge-cloud collaborative computing (ECCC) has emerged as a pivotal paradigm for addressing the computational demands of modern intelligent applications.<n>Recent advancements in AI, particularly deep learning and large language models (LLMs), have dramatically enhanced the capabilities of these distributed systems.<n>This survey provides a structured tutorial on fundamental architectures, enabling technologies, and emerging applications.
  arXiv  Detail & Related papers  (2025-05-03T13:55:38Z)
• Machine Learning Insides OptVerse AI Solver: Design Principles and Applications [74.67495900436728]
  We present a comprehensive study on the integration of machine learning (ML) techniques into Huawei Cloud's OptVerse AI solver. We showcase our methods for generating complex SAT and MILP instances utilizing generative models that mirror multifaceted structures of real-world problem. We detail the incorporation of state-of-the-art parameter tuning algorithms which markedly elevate solver performance.
  arXiv  Detail & Related papers  (2024-01-11T15:02:15Z)
• Human-Centric Multimodal Machine Learning: Recent Advances and Testbed on AI-based Recruitment [66.91538273487379]
  There is a certain consensus about the need to develop AI applications with a Human-Centric approach. Human-Centric Machine Learning needs to be developed based on four main requirements: (i) utility and social good; (ii) privacy and data ownership; (iii) transparency and accountability; and (iv) fairness in AI-driven decision-making processes. We study how current multimodal algorithms based on heterogeneous sources of information are affected by sensitive elements and inner biases in the data.
  arXiv  Detail & Related papers  (2023-02-13T16:44:44Z)
• SAIBench: Benchmarking AI for Science [3.2724772895344314]
  We formalize the problem of scientific AI benchmarking, and propose a system called SAIBench. The system approaches this goal with SAIL, a domain-specific language to decouple research problems, AI models, ranking criteria, and software/hardware configuration into reusable modules.
  arXiv  Detail & Related papers  (2022-06-11T04:19:51Z)
• Exploring the Nuances of Designing (with/for) Artificial Intelligence [0.0]
  We explore the construct of infrastructure as a means to simultaneously address algorithmic and societal issues when designing AI. Neither algorithmic solutions, nor purely humanistic ones will be enough to fully undesirable outcomes in the narrow state of AI.
  arXiv  Detail & Related papers  (2020-10-22T20:34:35Z)
• Measuring the Complexity of Domains Used to Evaluate AI Systems [0.48951183832371004]
  We propose a theory for measuring the complexity between varied domains. An application of this measure is then demonstrated to show its effectiveness as a tool in varied situations. We propose the future use of such a complexity metric for use in computing an AI system's intelligence.
  arXiv  Detail & Related papers  (2020-09-18T21:53:07Z)
• Bias in Multimodal AI: Testbed for Fair Automatic Recruitment [73.85525896663371]
  We study how current multimodal algorithms based on heterogeneous sources of information are affected by sensitive elements and inner biases in the data. We train automatic recruitment algorithms using a set of multimodal synthetic profiles consciously scored with gender and racial biases. Our methodology and results show how to generate fairer AI-based tools in general, and in particular fairer automated recruitment systems.
  arXiv  Detail & Related papers  (2020-04-15T15:58:05Z)

This list is automatically generated from the titles and abstracts of the papers in this site.

This site does not guarantee the quality of this site (including all information) and is not responsible for any consequences.