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What is an AI agent?

Every app launch now has one. Here's what the word actually means, told as a short comic.

Foxthe AI
Owlthat's you
First, a chatbot
1
Owl asks a chatbot about a trip to Hawaii. It talks: "Here are five beaches to visit." Then it stops and waits for the next question. That's all a chatbot does.
Now, an agent
2
This time Owl hands over a goal, not a question: "Book me a trip to Hawaii."
3
Fox plans the route first: flights, then a hotel, then a final check.
4
Then it uses tools: a travel site, a search, a price list. This is the part a chatbot can't do.
5
It checks what came back. Too expensive? Cross it out and try again.
6
Before paying, Fox stops and asks. Owl taps yes. Nothing risky happens without you.
7
Goal reached. Owl is in Hawaii. Fox did the work in between.
So, what is an AI agent?

An AI that doesn't just answer, it acts. It takes a goal, plans, uses tools, checks its work, and asks you before anything risky.

The loop behind every agent

Strip away the trip and every agent runs the same four moves, over and over, until the goal is met. Plan, act with a tool, check, repeat. The risky moves go through a gate where a person says yes.

1Goal2Plan3Use a tool4Checkrepeat untilthe goal is metapproval gate

Where agents go wrong

A chatbot's mistake is a wrong sentence. An agent's mistake is a wrong action. Three to watch for:

Real consequences. Asked to tidy up, it bins everything. Mistakes become actions.
Going in circles. It retries the same failing step, again and again.
Believing itself. It says "done" while the bridge is half built.

The fix for all three: limits and checkpoints. Give the agent only the tools it needs, cap its retries, and put an approval gate before anything that pays, deletes or sends.

The 30-second version

①A chatbot talks. An agent does things.
②Every agent loops: plan, use a tool, check, repeat.
③Anything risky goes through a human first.

Watch next

Approval gates, explained

Why an agent needs a human check. 52 sec

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The model is the horse. The harness steers it. 1 min 40 sec

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