AI agent
An AI agent is software that completes a defined operational job across several steps, using systems it's allowed to access, and hands the case to a person when it falls outside the rules.
An AI agent is software given a job, access to the systems that job needs, and a rule for cases it shouldn't finish. A form, email or record change can trigger it. It then looks up the relevant record, applies your policy and writes the outcome back. It proceeds only on cases that fit the process. Anything else waits for a person.
In a business it sits on work that already repeats. A new joiner form arrives and the agent creates the accounts you listed, then flags gaps. A warehouse exception arrives and it matches the order, updates the status and notifies the account manager when the match is unclear. The language model reads messy wording. Your process still sets the allowed actions, the data it can see and the fields it's allowed to change.
It goes wrong when the job is vague, the data is incomplete or it can act on money, contracts or customer promises without a check. It can invent a date missing from the record, pick the wrong account or follow a policy you changed last month. Limit its permissions, test awkward cases before go-live and keep a person on the exceptions.
When it matters
- →Staff spend hours moving the same type of request through several systems.
- →A process has clear rules, but every case still needs a person to click it through.
- →Exceptions are rare enough that most volume can run without judgement.
- →The work needs a log of what the agent did and what it escalated.
Related terms
AI agent: common questions
What is an AI agent?
An AI agent is software that carries out a defined job across several steps, using systems and data it's allowed to access. After a trigger such as a form, email or record change, it can look up information, apply your policy and write the result back. A person should take over when the case needs judgement, authority or sits outside the rules. Access and actions should be limited to that job, not the whole estate.
How do AI agents work?
Most business agents combine a language model with connections to your existing software and a written process. The model reads unstructured input, such as an email or a form comment. The connections let it fetch a record or update a field. The process is the list of allowed steps, including when to stop and ask a person. Without a written process and limited permissions, the agent has nothing reliable to follow.
What's the difference between an AI agent and a chatbot?
A chatbot is built to reply. An AI agent is built to complete a job after a trigger, which may include looking up a record, updating a field and logging the outcome. The same product can do both, so the label doesn't tell you much. For operations, the useful questions are which systems it can use, which fields it can change, and when a person has to approve.
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