AI agent
What is AI agent?
A software system that plans and carries out multi-step tasks on its own. It reads data, calls tools and adjusts course as it goes, rather than answering a single prompt. Humans set the goals and review the outcomes. This ability to act independently is what "agentic AI" refers to.
Why it matters
A plain chatbot answers one question at a time and waits for the next instruction. An agent is given a goal and works out the steps itself. It reads data, calls other software, checks the result and tries again when something fails. For a business that is the difference between a tool that drafts an email and a tool that files the expense report, books the meeting and updates the record. The appeal is obvious, and so is the risk. Something acting on its own across real systems needs clear limits, logging and a person reviewing what it did, because a mistake is no longer just a bad sentence on screen.
In practice
An operations team sets an agent loose on invoice processing. It reads each invoice, matches it to a purchase order, flags the ones that do not line up and routes those to a human. It handles the routine 90 percent and escalates the rest. People set the goal and review the exceptions rather than keying in every line.
