HardSystem designSystem design30 min to answer

Design a text-to-video generation system.

Asked at

OpenAI

1Give yourself 30 minutes

2Answer out loud, not in your head

3Then compare with the answer below

Stuck? Show a way to structure it+

01Clarify objective, users, constraints, and failure tolerance.
02Cover generation architecture, GPU scheduling, content safety, delivery in a causal structure.
03Compare at least two credible approaches.
04Specify evaluation, rollout, monitoring, and rollback.

Reference answer

strong answer

I would begin by defining the target outcome and acceptable failure boundary. For Generative media system design, I would analyze generation architecture, GPU scheduling, content safety, delivery, compare alternatives on quality, latency, cost, and risk, and validate on representative slices before a monitored rollout.

generation architecture
GPU scheduling
content safety
delivery

Requires scenario-specific numbers
Should include relevant personal experience

alternative answer

I would start with the riskiest assumption in Generative media system design, create the cheapest discriminating experiment, then use the evidence to choose an architecture and release threshold.

experimentation
risk-first sequencing
decision clarity

Needs deeper implementation detail

Grade yourself

generation architecture

weight 30%

StrongExplains generation architecture with mechanisms, trade-offs, and validation.

WeakNames generation architecture without operational implications.

GPU scheduling

weight 25%

StrongExplains GPU scheduling with mechanisms, trade-offs, and validation.

WeakNames GPU scheduling without operational implications.

content safety

weight 25%

StrongExplains content safety with mechanisms, trade-offs, and validation.

WeakNames content safety without operational implications.

delivery

weight 20%

StrongExplains delivery with mechanisms, trade-offs, and validation.

WeakNames delivery without operational implications.

Then expect these follow-ups

Which assumption is most likely to invalidate your approach?
Tests: depth
What would you measure offline and in production?
Tests: evaluation
How would your answer change with one-tenth the data or compute?
Tests: adaptability

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