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What is an AI agent?
An AI agent is an AI that can plan steps and use tools on its own to finish a goal you give it.
- Category Agents & tools
- Also called agent, agents
- Updated 20 Oct 2026
AI agent, explained simply
A chatbot answers a question. An agent goes further and does the work, such as searching, filling in a form or writing and running code.
It checks its progress and tries again if something fails. You give the goal and it handles the steps.
Example: you ask an agent to find three flights and put them in a table, and it browses and builds the table.
On ITG Now, many of our free tool guides cover AI agents, and each one says what the agent can touch on your computer.
Related terms
Agentic AITool callingMulti-agent systemAI coding agentBrowser agentMCP
Where you'll see it on ITG Now
- GuidePaperclip: Free App to Manage AI Agents Like a Company
- GuideKarpathy autoresearch: AI That Runs Experiments Overnight
- GuideOpenHuman: Open Source AI Agent App That Runs Lean (2026)
- GuideREA: Reverse Engineer Anything With Your AI Agent (2026)
- GuideDeepSeek Harness: DeepSeek's Free Open-Source AI Agent
- GuideHindsight: Free AI Agent Memory That Learns (2026 Guide)
Questions people ask about AI agent
AI agent vs chatbot: what is the difference?
A chatbot talks. An agent can also take actions, like using apps and tools, to reach a goal.
Is an AI agent safe to use?
It can be, if you limit what it can access and review what it does. Start with low-risk tasks.