How Do AI Agents Work?

The Agent Cycle:

1. Understand the Goal: You give the agent a task or objective
2. Plan: The agent thinks about what steps it needs to take
3. Act: The agent takes action (searches, sends emails, creates files, etc.)
4. Observe: The agent sees the results of its action
5. Learn and Repeat: Based on what happened, it adjusts and tries again

This cycle repeats until the agent completes the goal or realizes it can't.

The Key Difference:

Agents can use tools — things like Google Search, email, spreadsheets, and more. ChatGPT can't actually use these tools; it just gives you information about them. Agents can actually use them!