---
title: "AI agent | Glossary"
description: 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…
image: "https://lenvanderhof.com/photos/len-portrait-1.jpg"
---

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.

## Essays on this site

- [What is an AI agent?](https://lenvanderhof.com/en/blog/what-is-an-ai-agent/)
- [MCP explained for founders](https://lenvanderhof.com/en/blog/mcp-explained-for-founders/)
- [AI Agents for Startup Strategy: introduction](https://lenvanderhof.com/en/blog/ai-agents-for-startup-strategy-introduction/)
- [An agentic workflow is not an automation](https://lenvanderhof.com/en/blog/agentic-workflow-vs-automation/)
- [Human in the loop meaning: a named person who can fail the work](https://lenvanderhof.com/en/blog/human-in-the-loop-meaning/)
- [AI agent or chatbot: three tests before you mix the words](https://lenvanderhof.com/en/blog/ai-agent-or-chatbot/)
- [Literary agent or AI agent: two different jobs](https://lenvanderhof.com/en/blog/literary-agent-or-ai-agent/)

```json
{
	"@context": "https://schema.org",
	"@graph": [
		{
			"@type": "DefinedTerm",
			"@id": "https://lenvanderhof.com/glossary/ai-agent/#term",
			"name": "AI agent",
			"description": "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.",
			"url": "https://lenvanderhof.com/glossary/ai-agent/",
			"inDefinedTermSet": "https://lenvanderhof.com/glossary/"
		},
		{
			"@type": "WebPage",
			"@id": "https://lenvanderhof.com/glossary/ai-agent/#webpage",
			"url": "https://lenvanderhof.com/glossary/ai-agent/",
			"name": "AI agent",
			"description": "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.",
			"inLanguage": "en",
			"isPartOf": {
				"@id": "https://lenvanderhof.com/#website"
			},
			"about": {
				"@id": "https://lenvanderhof.com/glossary/ai-agent/#term"
			},
			"mainEntity": {
				"@id": "https://lenvanderhof.com/glossary/ai-agent/#term"
			},
			"breadcrumb": {
				"@id": "https://lenvanderhof.com/glossary/ai-agent/#breadcrumb"
			}
		},
		{
			"@type": "BreadcrumbList",
			"@id": "https://lenvanderhof.com/glossary/ai-agent/#breadcrumb",
			"itemListElement": [
				{
					"@type": "ListItem",
					"position": 1,
					"name": "Home",
					"item": "https://lenvanderhof.com/"
				},
				{
					"@type": "ListItem",
					"position": 2,
					"name": "All terms",
					"item": "https://lenvanderhof.com/glossary/"
				},
				{
					"@type": "ListItem",
					"position": 3,
					"name": "AI agent",
					"item": "https://lenvanderhof.com/glossary/ai-agent/"
				}
			]
		}
	]
}
```