What an AI agent actually is

After this lesson you can: Separate an agent from a chatbot and from a workflow.

First: Call an LLM API from Python

Watch

• What are AI Agents? - IBM Technology, 12 min. Concise IBM explainer should give a clear industry framing for separating agents from ordinary chatbots.
• What is AI Agent in Artificial Intelligence? | AI Agent Explained - codebasics, 9 min. Brief zero-entry overview is useful, though the title may lean toward broader classical AI agents.
• What is Agentic AI and How Does it Work? - codebasics, 14 min. Short, beginner-friendly title targets agentic AI mechanics, likely matching the tool-using loop distinction.

Notes

An AI agent is not just an LLM that answers a message. The useful software-engineering definition is: an LLM placed inside a loop where it can inspect state, choose an action, call a tool, read the result, and decide what to do next. The model is still producing text, but some of that text is treated as a structured request to run code, search, query a database, open a ticket, or call another service.

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