AI Glossary Term
What does “AI Agent” mean?
A software system that can observe, reason, and take actions to achieve a goal, often using tools and memory.
How AI Agent works
Example
A travel-booking agent is asked to find a flight under a set budget. It searches airline sites through tools, compares options, drops ones over budget, and asks you to confirm before buying. It keeps notes on what it has already tried so it does not repeat itself.
Why it matters
Agents move AI from answering questions to carrying out multi-step work. That raises the stakes: mistakes can have real effects, so permissions and human checks matter.
Common questions
How is an AI agent different from a chatbot?
A chatbot mainly replies with text. An agent can also take actions, such as running searches, editing files, or calling software, and then use the results to decide what to do next.
Do AI agents work without supervision?
Some can run for many steps on their own, but most careful deployments limit what the agent may do and ask a person to approve risky actions.
What can go wrong with agents?
They can misread a goal, use a tool incorrectly, or act on bad information. Small errors can compound over many steps, so logging and limits on actions are common safeguards.