Build Smarter Apps: Tool Calling & AI Orchestration Explained

Tool calling lets a model use functions and APIs to fetch data or take actions, such as checking the weather, querying a database, or sending a notification. Mike says the model must support tool execution and notes that React Native AI Apple supports it.

Mike demonstrates a model calling getCurrentTime and checking a calendar for the day's agenda. He says the calendar result matched the device app, but cautions that returned UTC times need to be localized for the user. With available tools, a model could also assess whether someone will arrive on time for an event.

Structured outputs constrain a model's response to a defined shape, such as a JSON schema with typed fields. Mike demonstrates an object with a person's name, age, and active status, an enum for a color, a Boolean, and arrays. He says these formats can support forms, information extraction, UI generation, and other application logic.

Mike shows code that generates a fruit array and says results depend on the model, its parameters, and its architecture. In the demo, repeated runs returned different lists, though the Apple device model favored apples.