What an AI agent is—and is not
The difference between a chatbot, workflow, copilot, and agent. An agent is not just an LLM with tools: it is a system that decides actions within explicit boundaries.
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The ideas to retain
A scale of autonomy
1. Direct response
The user asks a question and the model generates an output. The system may retrieve information first, but the work sequence is fixed outside the model. A ticket classifier or a function…
2. Deterministic workflow
The system chains known steps: retrieve documents, call a model, validate JSON, and store the result. It can be complex and valuable without being an agent. Its advantage is that the path…
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