Term
AI agent
An AI agent is a system that takes a goal, uses tools, and acts across steps without a human prompting each one. A chatbot answers a turn. An automation runs a fixed script. An agent is accountable only when it has a charter: purpose, inputs, outputs, authority ceiling, success criteria, review, and escalation. Without those seven fields, it is a demo that can spend money. A wrapper around a chat model is not this. Neither is a scheduled script.
When to use it
Use this definition when someone calls every LLM wrapper an agent. If there is no written ceiling and no named reviewer, the word is doing sales work, not design work.
Do not confuse with
Not a job title and not a chatbot with a system prompt.