Unlock Hidden Data: How Structured Output Makes AI Truly Powerful

Hello,

In my latest piece, I explore how structured output is transforming AI applications from simple text generators into powerful data processing engines.

Rather than dealing with free-flowing text, structured output allows you to:

• Extract precise information from PDFs, audio files, and other media
• Build modular AI systems that are easier to maintain and test
• Create rich user experiences by embedding business logic directly in your models

The magic of constraints is what makes this approach so powerful. By defining specific output formats, you're essentially giving AI models a framework that guides their reasoning. The models adapt to these constraints remarkably well, figuring out how to complete fields like speaker identification in audio transcripts or boolean flags for detecting advertisements - even though they weren't explicitly trained for these tasks.

This modular approach allows you to chain processes together: extract basic data with one schema, then pass that structured data to another model with a different schema to get deeper insights. For example, you can first transcribe a podcast with timestamps and speaker information, then extract key topics, headlines, and discussion points from that structured transcript.

Here's a simple example of how easy it is to implement structured output with a multi-schema approach:

llm -m gemini-2.5-pro-exp-03-25 \
  -a podcast-episode.mp3 \
  --schema-multi 'timestamp str: mm:ss,speaker_name,advertisement: boolean, text' \
  transcript

This one-line command takes an audio file and outputs a structured JSON with timestamps, speaker identification, advertisement detection, and the transcript text - all from a single-word prompt "transcript." The schema definition guides the model to produce exactly what you need.

Check out practical examples including podcast transcription with speaker identification, PDF data extraction, and state-based conversational agents.

Read the full article: Using Structured Output

Best, Will