What is an AI agent?

As explained above, while the key features of an AI agent are reasoning and acting (as described in ReAct Framework) more features have evolved over time.

• Reasoning: This core cognitive process involves using logic and available information to draw conclusions, make inferences, and solve problems. AI agents with strong reasoning capabilities can analyze data, identify patterns, and make informed decisions based on evidence and context.
• Acting: The ability to take action or perform tasks based on decisions, plans, or external input is crucial for AI agents to interact with their environment and achieve goals. This can include physical actions in the case of embodied AI, or digital actions like sending messages, updating data, or triggering other processes.
• Observing: Gathering information about the environment or situation through perception or sensing is essential for AI agents to understand their context and make informed decisions. This can involve various forms of perception, such as computer vision, natural language processing, or sensor data analysis.
• Planning: Developing a strategic plan to achieve goals is a key aspect of intelligent behavior. AI agents with planning capabilities can identify the necessary steps, evaluate potential actions, and choose the best course of action based on available information and desired outcomes. This often involves anticipating future states and considering potential obstacles.
• Collaborating: Working effectively with others, whether humans or other AI agents, to achieve a common goal is increasingly important in complex and dynamic environments. Collaboration requires communication, coordination, and the ability to understand and respect the perspectives of others.
• Self-refining: The capacity for self-improvement and adaptation is a hallmark of advanced AI systems. AI agents with self-refining capabilities can learn from experience, adjust their behavior based on feedback, and continuously enhance their performance and capabilities over time. This can involve machine learning techniques, optimization algorithms, or other forms of self-modification.

AI assistants are AI agents designed as applications or products to collaborate directly with users and perform tasks by understanding and responding to natural human language and inputs. They can reason and take action on the users' behalf with their supervision.

AI assistants are often embedded in the product being used. A key characteristic is the interaction between the assistant and user through the different steps of the task. The assistant responds to requests or prompts from the user, and can recommend actions but decision-making is done by the user.

• Autonomy: AI agents have the highest degree of autonomy, able to operate and make decisions independently to achieve a goal. AI assistants are less autonomous, requiring user input and direction. Bots are the least autonomous, typically following pre-programmed rules.
• Complexity: AI agents are designed to handle complex tasks and workflows, while AI assistants and bots are better suited for simpler tasks and interactions.
• Learning: AI agents often employ machine learning to adapt and improve their performance over time. AI assistants may have some learning capabilities, while bots typically have limited or no learning.

Every agent defines its role, personality, and communication style, including specific instructions and descriptions of available tools. 

• Persona: A well defined persona allows an agent to maintain a consistent character and behave in a manner appropriate to its assigned role, evolving as the agent gains experience and interacts with its environment.
• Memory: The agent is equipped in general with short term, long term, consensus, and episodic memory. Short term memory for immediate interactions, long-term memory for historical data and conversations, episodic memory for past interactions, and consensus memory for shared information among agents. The agent can maintain context, learn from experiences, and improve performance by recalling past interactions and adapting to new situations.
• Tools: Tools are functions or external resources that an agent can utilize to interact with its environment and enhance its capabilities. They allow agents to perform complex tasks by accessing information, manipulating data, or controlling external systems, and can be categorized based on their user interface, including physical, graphical, and program-based interfaces. Tool learning involves teaching agents how to effectively use these tools by understanding their functionalities and the context in which they should be applied.
• Model: Large language models (LLMs) serve as the foundation for building AI agents, providing them with the ability to understand, reason, and act. LLMs act as the "brain" of an agent, enabling them to process and generate language, while other components facilitate reason and action.

AI agents can be categorized in various ways based on their capabilities, roles, and environments. Here are some key categories of agents:

There are different definitions of agent types and agent categories. 

One way to categorize agents is by how they interact with users. Some agents engage in direct conversation, while others operate in the background, performing tasks without direct user input: 

• Interactive partners (also known as, surface agents) – Assisting us with tasks like customer service, healthcare, education, and scientific discovery, providing personalized and intelligent support. Conversational agents include Q&A, chit chat, and world knowledge interactions with humans. They are generally user query triggered and fulfill user queries or transactions.
• Autonomous background processes (also known as, background agents) – Working behind the scenes to automate routine tasks, analyze data for insights, optimize processes for efficiency, and proactively identify and address potential issues. They include workflow agents. They have limited or no human interaction and are generally driven by events and fulfill queued tasks or chains of tasks.

• Single agent: Operate independently to achieve a specific goal. They utilize external tools and resources to accomplish tasks, enhancing their functional capabilities in diverse environments. They are best suited for well defined tasks that do not require collaboration with other AI agents. Can only handle one foundation model for its processing.
• Multi-agent: Multiple AI agents that collaborate or compete to achieve a common objective or individual goals. These systems leverage the diverse capabilities and roles of individual agents to tackle complex tasks. Multi-agent systems can simulate human behaviors, such as interpersonal communication, in interactive scenarios. Each agent can have different foundation models that best fit their needs.

While AI agents offer many benefits, there are also some challenges associated with their use:

Tasks requiring deep empathy / emotional intelligence or requiring complex human interaction and social dynamics – AI agents can struggle with nuanced human emotions. Tasks like therapy, social work, or conflict resolution require a level of emotional understanding and empathy that AI currently lacks. They may falter in complex social situations that require understanding unspoken cues.

Situations with high ethical stakes – AI agents can make decisions based on data, but they lack the moral compass and judgment needed for ethically complex situations. This includes areas like law enforcement, healthcare (diagnosis and treatment), and judicial decision-making.   

Domains with unpredictable physical environments – AI agents can struggle in highly dynamic and unpredictable physical environments where real-time adaptation and complex motor skills are essential. This includes tasks like surgery, certain types of construction work, and disaster response.

Resource-intensive applications – Developing and deploying sophisticated AI agents can be computationally expensive and require significant resources, potentially making them unsuitable for smaller projects or organizations with limited budgets.