What is an AI agent? A plain-English guide we wrote for ourselves (and you).
AI agents are everywhere in the headlines—and yet no one seems to agree on what they actually are. Ask five companies what it means, and you’ll get five different answers: So yeah—no wonder people are confused. At the highest level, everyone agrees on this: AI agents are systems designed to act on behalf of a user. But that’s where the agreement ends. The big differences come down to how independent they are, how intelligent they really seem, and what kind of work they can do.