An agent... (Jeeves?)
12/02/25 16:13
Listening to a podcast and the topic of agents just came up… so, what IS an agent?
Well, according to Anna Gutowska (Data Scientist, Developer Advocacy, IBM) "an AI agent refers to a system or program that is capable of autonomously performing tasks on behalf of a user or another system by designing its workflow and utilizing available tools."
So, an agent can run out and do something for you… that's the "performing tasks on behalf of a user or another system" part. So, my AI agent will be able to talk to airline AI agents and poof, my flight is booked and oh, look, a restaurant reservation is in place too. Mind you, I have to let the agent "know" some personal information… we're now into system design thinking: there are multiple components here and they need to interact. If I understand this correctly, we are now using compound AI systems controlled with some control logic, maybe by the user, but more likely defined by an LLM. And, unlike a non-agentic chatbot AI, an agentic AI will adapt to you over time and use tools to fill in information gaps. We're not in Kansas anymore Toto!
Well, according to Anna Gutowska (Data Scientist, Developer Advocacy, IBM) "an AI agent refers to a system or program that is capable of autonomously performing tasks on behalf of a user or another system by designing its workflow and utilizing available tools."
So, an agent can run out and do something for you… that's the "performing tasks on behalf of a user or another system" part. So, my AI agent will be able to talk to airline AI agents and poof, my flight is booked and oh, look, a restaurant reservation is in place too. Mind you, I have to let the agent "know" some personal information… we're now into system design thinking: there are multiple components here and they need to interact. If I understand this correctly, we are now using compound AI systems controlled with some control logic, maybe by the user, but more likely defined by an LLM. And, unlike a non-agentic chatbot AI, an agentic AI will adapt to you over time and use tools to fill in information gaps. We're not in Kansas anymore Toto!