02 / Sessions & Context
Agent
A model plus a harness, taking turns with a person. The difference between something that answers questions and something that gets work done.
How you’ll hear it
“Is this a chatbot or an agent?”
“An agent. It can take actions in our systems, not just answer.”
Avoid
Calling every chatbot an agent. The difference is that an agent acts.
The longer version
An agent combines a model with tools and instructions and works in turns with a person or a process. What makes it an agent is that it can act: search, update a record, run a step. That is also exactly why permissions and oversight matter.