The release of ChatGPT, Bard, and other large language model (LLM)-based
chatbots has drawn huge attention on foundations models worldwide. There is a
growing trend that foundation models will serve as the fundamental building
blocks for most of the future AI systems. However, incorporating foundation
models in AI systems raises significant concerns about responsible AI due to
their black box nature and rapidly advancing super-intelligence. Additionally,
the foundation model's growing capabilities can eventually absorb the other
components of AI systems, introducing the moving boundary and interface
evolution challenges in architecture design. To address these challenges, this
paper proposes a pattern-oriented responsible-AI-by-design reference
architecture for designing foundation model-based AI systems. Specially, the
paper first presents an architecture evolution of AI systems in the era of
foundation models, from "foundation-model-as-a-connector" to
"foundation-model-as-a-monolithic architecture". The paper then identifies the
key design decision points and proposes a pattern-oriented reference
architecture to provide reusable responsible-AI-by-design architectural
solutions to address the new architecture evolution and responsible AI
challenges. The patterns can be embedded as product features of foundation
model-based AI systems and can enable organisations to capitalise on the
potential of foundation models while minimising associated risks