AI Agent
A software program that uses an AI model to take autonomous actions — browsing the web, writing files, calling APIs — to complete a goal without step-by-step human instructions.
An AI agent is a program that combines a language model with the ability to take actions in the world. Unlike a chatbot (which only generates text), an agent can use tools: search the web, read and write files, call APIs, run code, or chain multiple steps together to complete a task.
How an agent works: The model receives a goal, plans a sequence of steps, executes each step using available tools, observes the result, and adjusts its plan until the goal is complete — all without human intervention at each step.
Agentic vs chat: A chat interaction is stateless and single-turn. An agent maintains state across multiple steps, remembers what it has already done, and adapts based on intermediate results.
Why it matters for builders: Agents are the difference between AI that answers questions and AI that completes work. Products like Claude Code, Devin, and AutoGPT are agent frameworks. Most AI automation tools (n8n, Make.com) are increasingly wiring models into agent-style workflows.
Example
You tell an AI agent: "Research the top 5 competitors of Notion, pull pricing from each website, and create a comparison table in Google Sheets." The agent searches the web, visits each site, extracts data, and writes to the spreadsheet — no further input from you.
Related terms
Agentic AI
An AI system that can break down goals into steps, use tools, and iterate until a goal is achieved.
Multi-Agent System
An architecture where multiple AI agents work in parallel or in sequence, each handling a specialised subtask, coordinated by an orchestrator.
Agent Orchestration
Coordinating multiple AI models, tools, or agents to work together on a complex goal.
Tool Use / Function Calling
Enabling an AI to call external functions or APIs to perform tasks beyond text generation.
Chatbot
A software program designed to simulate conversation with a user, responding to text inputs with pre-defined or AI-generated replies.