What are AI Agents?

Welcome to FIVE-minutes-AI. I'm Luca. Today we talk about the most used word in AI in 2025: agent. Everyone's talking about it, few know what it actually means. After this episode, you will.

When you use ChatGPT or Claude normally, it works like this: you ask a question, the AI responds. You ask something else, the AI responds. It's ping-pong. Every time, you're the one driving, deciding the next step. This is called a "chatbot".

An agent is different. An agent is an AI that can take multiple steps on its own, make decisions, use tools, and reach a result without you guiding it step by step.

Let me give you a concrete example. Traditional chatbot: "Find me flights to Paris next week." The AI lists options, you choose, you ask for hotels, the AI lists them, you choose, and so on. Ten questions and answers.

Agent: "Organize a weekend in Paris for two people, budget 800 euros, flight plus central hotel, I prefer leaving Friday evening." The agent takes off and does everything by itself: searches flights, compares prices, looks for hotels in the right area, checks availability, makes sure it stays within budget, and comes back with a complete proposal. Or maybe books directly, if you've given it permission.

See the difference? The chatbot answers questions. The agent completes missions.

But how does it work technically? An agent has three components that a basic chatbot doesn't have.

First: it can reason across multiple steps. Before acting, it thinks: "To organize this trip I need to first search flights, then hotels, then verify the budget..." It plans.

Second: it has access to tools. It can browse the web, read emails, write files, query databases, call APIs. It's not closed in a bubble — it interacts with the outside world.

Third: it can decide autonomously. If it finds a perfect flight but the preferred hotel is full, it decides to search for another one. It doesn't freeze asking you what to do at every obstacle.

Obviously this carries risks. Giving autonomy to AI means trusting it. What happens if the agent misunderstands and books the wrong trip? Or sends an email to the wrong client? That's why serious agents always have "guardrails" — limits on what they can do and when they must ask for confirmation.

We're just at the beginning. Today agents work well for defined tasks: research, data analysis, simple automations. Tomorrow — we're talking months, not years — we'll see them managing entire projects. An agent coordinating other agents. An agent serving as your complete personal assistant.

To recap: a chatbot answers your questions, one at a time. An agent completes missions autonomously, using tools and making decisions. It's the difference between having a search engine and having an assistant.

This was the first cycle of FIVE-minutes-AI. If you liked it, let me know — and tell me what other concepts you'd like me to explain.

I'm Luca, this was FIVE-minutes-AI. See you next time.