What Are AI Agents?
A chatbot answers. An agent acts: it can plan steps, use tools such as your calendar, email or a browser, and carry a task through with less hand-holding. Powerful, but you stay responsible for what it does.
What is an AI agent?
An agent is an AI system that is given a goal and can decide the steps to reach it, using tools along the way. Instead of “write me an email”, you might say “find a train to Manchester on Friday and add it to my calendar”.
Real examples
- Always-on assistants like OpenAI’s “Dots”, announced at DevDay in September 2026, which OpenAI says can keep working on tasks such as booking travel. See our news story.
- Coding agents that read a project, make changes and run tests.
- Research agents that search many sources and assemble a report.
Why would I use one?
To hand off repetitive, multi-step jobs: gathering information, drafting and filing, monitoring for changes.
Limitations and risks
Agents can make mistakes at machine speed, and they may be given access to real accounts. Start with low-stakes tasks, don’t give access to money or sensitive data until you understand what it can do, and review anything it sends or buys on your behalf.
- They can misread your goal and act on it confidently.
- Web pages can contain hidden instructions that try to trick an agent (called prompt injection).
- Paid plans often gate the best agent features. Check the provider’s current plan details.
What to try next
Get comfortable with a normal assistant first: What is AI? and How to write a good AI prompt.
Sources
- Engadget: OpenAI DevDay 2026 liveblog (Dots agents)
- General explainer written by Silent Overseer.
Silent Overseer uses AI tools to help research and draft, and every article is reviewed before publishing. How we work. Spotted a mistake? We correct and date changes.