Definition
An AI agent is a software entity that perceives its environment, makes decisions, and takes actions to achieve specific goals. Agents combine a large language model (LLM) for reasoning with tools for execution. They can plan multi-step workflows, call APIs, read databases, send emails, and adapt based on results. Key difference from a chatbot: A chatbot answers questions. An agent does work. The chatbot tells you how to send an invoice. The agent sends the invoice.
Example
A customer support agent that reads incoming emails, classifies the issue, searches the knowledge base for relevant solutions, drafts a response, and sends it, all while learning which responses get the best customer satisfaction scores.
Why it matters
By 2028, 33% of enterprise software will include agentic AI capabilities, up from less than 1% in 2024.