What Is an AI Agent?

The Digital Colleague That Thinks, Remembers, and Acts

LinkedIn is awash with "AI experts" posting diagrams showing ChatGPT connected to some APIs and calling it an "autonomous AI agent." Such posts get 2,000 likes and 300 shares and usually convey a completely incorrect concept of what agents actually are. The comments are routinely a masterclass in confusion—people debating whether Siri counts as an agent, whether automation tools are the same thing, and whether true AI agents even exist yet.

This isn't just semantic confusion. It's a fundamental misunderstanding that's costing companies millions in misdirected AI investments. I've sat in meetings where executives greenlight "agent projects" that are actually sophisticated chatbots, then wonder why they're not seeing the transformative results vendors promised.

The problem isn't the technology—it's that most people don't understand what agents fundamentally are versus what they think they are.

The truth about AI agents cuts through both the hype and the dismissiveness.

They're not magical autonomous workers that replace your entire staff. They're also not just enhanced automation tools with better interfaces. They're something qualitatively different—and understanding that distinction determines whether your next AI initiative creates competitive advantage or becomes another expensive lesson.

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I Build Enterprise AI Agents That Handle Real Business Work

I spend my time designing and building AI agent systems for organisations that can't afford to get this wrong. When my agents break, revenue stops. When they work, they unlock capabilities that transform how companies operate.

From where I sit, the confusion about agent definition isn't academic—it's practical. Every enterprise project starts with the same conversation: "What exactly are we building, and how is it different from what we already have?"

In my experience building systems that handle real work under real constraints, agents have three defining characteristics that separate them from every other category of AI tool: they can reason systematically, they remember and learn from experience, and they take autonomous action within defined boundaries.

Miss any of these three elements, and you're building something else—perhaps useful, but not an agent.

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Here's What Everyone Gets Wrong About AI Agents