From AI Chatbots to AI Agents

The evolution of generative artificial intelligence chatbots to AI agents might be likened to the difference between a customer service representative who follows a script and a knowledgeable personal assistant who understands your needs, accesses information, and completes tasks on your behalf. 

Chatbots are sort of “manual” operators: they respond to user questions, but do nothing unless they are asked, responding using pre-defined knowledge bases and scripts. 

AI agents, in principle, are designed to operate more automatically, performing tasks on a user’s behalf.

May access and manipulate data to complete tasks (booking a flight, recommending products). Agents are able to handle more-complex interactions and conduct more-complex tasks. 

Analogy	Chatbot	Agent
Restaurant Server	Takes your order based on a fixed menu	Recommends dishes based on your preferences and dietary restrictions
Customer Service Representative	Follows a script to answer basic questions	Resolves complex issues by accessing customer history and internal databases
Travel Booking Agent	Books flights based on simple criteria (carrier, date, time, fare, direct or connecting flights).	Creates a personalized travel itinerary based on your interests and budget
Library Assistant	Keyword-based search	Researches topics across different resources and summarizes key points
Movie Recommendation System	Suggests popular movies based on genre	Recommends movies based on your past viewing history