AI Agents Explained: From Chatbots to Agentic Workflows
AI is moving from passive tools that answer prompts to active agents that make decisions and carry out tasks. Here is what an AI agent is, what it changes for developers, and where agentic workflows are heading.
By Wasif Rehman · · AI agents
In short
- A chatbot waits for a prompt; an AI agent perceives its environment, reasons about goals and takes action.
- Agents can browse the web, write code and call APIs on their own.
- In software engineering, agents are moving from code completion toward pair programmers that refactor, test and deploy.
- As agents become more reliable, expect agentic workflows where people orchestrate teams of specialized agents.
What are AI agents?
A traditional chatbot waits for a prompt and replies to it. An AI agent is different: it can perceive its environment, reason about its goals and take actions to achieve them.
| Aspect | Traditional chatbot | AI agent |
|---|---|---|
| Starting point | Waits for a prompt | Perceives its environment |
| Thinking | Responds to the prompt | Reasons about goals |
| Output | A reply | Actions, such as browsing the web, writing code or calling APIs |
How AI agents work: perceive, reason, act
- Perceive the environment
- Reason about the goal
- Take action
The actions are real. An agent can browse the web, write code and interact with APIs independently, instead of handing text back for a person to act on.
How AI agents are changing software development
In software engineering, agents are growing from simple code completion tools into something closer to pair programmers. Code completion suggests what you type next. An agent can take on whole tasks:
- Refactoring large parts of a codebase
- Writing tests
- Deploying applications
The future of AI agents: agentic workflows
As agents become more reliable, I expect a shift toward agentic workflows, where people orchestrate teams of specialized AI agents to solve complex problems faster.
My BPOAI case study is a small example of a specialized agent team: nine agents, each with one job, wired together through webhooks and cron. I break it down in How the BPOAI Agent Flow Works.
Orchestrating also means choosing where a person checks the work. I cover that in When NOT to Let the AI Finish the Job.
Frequently asked questions
What is an AI agent?
An AI agent is an AI system that perceives its environment, reasons about a goal and takes actions to reach it, such as browsing the web, writing code or calling APIs.
What is the difference between an AI agent and a chatbot?
A traditional chatbot waits for a prompt and replies to it. An AI agent works toward a goal and takes actions on its own.
How are AI agents used in software development?
They are moving beyond code completion. Agents can work like pair programmers that refactor large parts of a codebase, write tests and even deploy applications.
What are agentic workflows?
Agentic workflows are setups where people orchestrate teams of specialized AI agents to solve complex problems. They become more practical as agents get more reliable.