AI
How do AI agents differ from chatbots?
Chatbots respond to individual prompts in a stateless or lightly stateful conversation. AI agents autonomously plan multi-step tasks, use external tools (APIs, browsers, code execution), and make decisions to achieve a defined goal. An agent can loop, retry, and adapt its approach; a chatbot waits for the next human message.
Key Considerations
- Agents require tool-use frameworks (function calling, MCP, LangChain) — they don't emerge from chat prompts alone
- Reliability is the main production challenge: agents fail silently, loop, or take wrong actions without guardrails
- Start with deterministic workflows and add agent autonomy incrementally
- Cost scales with autonomy — an agent may make dozens of LLM calls per task
- Human-in-the-loop checkpoints are essential for any agent handling real-world actions