How to Do More with Less

5Introducing AI Agents

2025 was the year of AI agents. Every technology vendor has slapped on AI agents to their marketing content. Unfortunately, not every product is actually agentic. In this chapter, we will uncover why and what truly makes a product agentic. Agents represent the ultimate promise of doing more with less: they think, act, and follow up while you sleep.

So, what are these agents and what is the difference between agents and chatbots? An agent is a software entity that uses artificial intelligence to perform tasks or make decisions on behalf of a user or system. It operates autonomously, perceiving its environment through sensors or data inputs, processing that information, and then taking actions to achieve specific goals.

The terms chatbot and agent are often used interchangeably, but they refer to slightly different types of AI systems, especially in terms of functionality and purpose. Think of an agent as one step beyond a simple chatbot or a “dumber” AI system because it has a higher level of intelligence and can act autonomously.

Chatbots Versus Agents

Here's a breakdown of the key differences between chatbots and agents:

Scope of Tasks

• Chatbot: Generally, a chatbot is designed to handle simple, rule-based interactions. It's often programmed to respond to predefined questions and follow scripted conversations. These are often used in customer service, providing basic information or performing simple tasks like answering FAQs.
• Agent: An AI agent is ...