An autonomous software system powered by a large language model (LLM) that can perceive its environment, make decisions, and take actions to achieve specific goals. Unlike simple chatbots, AI agents can use tools, access external data, maintain context across interactions, and chain multiple reasoning steps together.
Related Terms
Agentic Engineering
The discipline of designing, building, and deploying autonomous AI agent systems that can reason, plan, and execute complex tasks with minimal human oversight. Agentic engineering combines software engineering, AI/ML, and systems design to create production-grade autonomous workflows.
Tool Use
The ability of an AI agent to interact with external systems, APIs, databases, and software tools to gather information or take actions in the real world. Tool use transforms LLMs from text generators into systems that can search the web, query databases, send emails, write code, and interact with any API.
Multi-Agent Orchestration
The coordination of multiple AI agents working together on complex tasks, where each agent has specialized capabilities and they collaborate through defined communication protocols. Orchestration ensures agents hand off context, share results, and avoid conflicts while working toward a shared objective.