What are the main differences between the ChatClient and ChatModel components?

[xiaohai-78]

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Expected Behavior

Will there be plans to merge them into a single component in the future?

Current Behavior

example：
openAiChatModel.call(new Prompt(DEFAULT_PROMPT)).getResult().getOutput().getContent();
openAiChatClient.prompt(DEFAULT_PROMPT).call().content();
The final result returned by the two lines of code above is the same.

Context

I have some questions while learning SpringAi, and I would appreciate your insights. What are the main differences between the ChatClient and ChatModel components? Since ChatModel can be converted into ChatClient and they share the same functionality, could it be that they have redundant designs? What is the reasoning behind this design choice? Will there be plans to merge them into a single component in the future? Thank you in advance for your response.

I’ve searched online, but it seems I couldn’t find any related explanations.