Structured Output
Structured output constrains a model to return data in a fixed shape, so the result can be handed straight to another system instead of read by a person.
A model that produces prose is fine when a human is the consumer. The moment the output feeds a database write, an API call or a branch in a workflow, the shape has to be guaranteed. Structured output enforces a schema on generation itself, rather than parsing free text afterwards and hoping.
The failure it removes is the intermittent one. Parsing text works on almost every response, which means it breaks rarely and unpredictably — usually on the inputs that were unusual enough to matter. Constraining generation turns that into a guarantee, which is what makes a model safe to put in the middle of an automated path.