AI Agents vs. Agentic AI: Whatโs the Difference? (A Simple Guide)
๐ถ๏ธ ๐๐จ๐งโ๐ญ ๐ฐ๐จ๐ซ๐ซ๐ฒ โ ๐ฐ๐โ๐ซ๐ ๐ง๐จ๐ญ ๐ญ๐๐ฅ๐ค๐ข๐ง๐ ๐๐๐จ๐ฎ๐ญ ๐๐ ๐๐ง๐ญ ๐๐ฆ๐ข๐ญ๐ก. ๐๐ก๐๐ฌ๐ ๐๐ ๐๐ง๐ญ๐ฌ ๐๐ซ๐ ๐๐ซ๐ข๐๐ง๐๐ฅ๐ข๐๐ซ, ๐๐๐ฌ๐ข๐๐ซ ๐ญ๐จ ๐ฎ๐ง๐๐๐ซ๐ฌ๐ญ๐๐ง๐, ๐๐ง๐ ๐ฐ๐จ๐งโ๐ญ ๐๐ก๐๐ฌ๐ ๐ฒ๐จ๐ฎ ๐ญ๐ก๐ซ๐จ๐ฎ๐ ๐ก ๐ญ๐ก๐ ๐๐๐ญ๐ซ๐ข๐ฑ.โฃ
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๐ง ๐๐๐๐ฉ ๐ข๐ญ ๐ฌ๐ข๐ฆ๐ฉ๐ฅ๐, ๐๐จ๐ฅ๐ค๐ฌ.โฃ
Tech loves to make things sound complex, but often, evolution is way simpler than the buzzwords imply.โฃ
Letโs strip back the hype for a moment.โฃ
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๐น ๐๐ ๐๐ ๐๐ง๐ญ๐ฌโฃ
These are software programs (think SaaS tools) that use APIs, tokens, and a touch of business logic to complete tasks semi-independently. The business logic can also reside in an AI assistant that, together with the software solution, offers the Agent workflow.โฃ
๐๐๐ฉ๐๐ง๐๐๐ง๐๐ข๐๐ฌ: We assume that the business logic objectives donโt change dramatically, otherwise the whole purpose of that Agent is defeatedโฃ
๐๐๐๐ฅ ๐ฆ๐๐ซ๐ค๐๐ญ๐ข๐ง๐ ๐ฎ๐ฌ๐ ๐๐๐ฌ๐: You have an AI assistant/agent sitting on top of your marketing automation layer. It has the business logic to check your partner's sales data. Realises your partner is running low on their targets for a particular product. The AI agent then collaborates with your marketing automation software to create a sales promotion email and sends it to your partner for consideration. Vola! A perfect sales hook to achieve the revenue mix. โฃ
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๐น ๐๐ ๐๐ง๐ญ๐ข๐ ๐๐โฃ
This is the next level, where AI agents donโt just work in silos but collaborate across systems and software stacks. Itโs when your tools talk to each other and coordinate without you needing to babysit the process.โฃ
๐๐๐ฉ๐๐ง๐๐๐ง๐๐ข๐๐ฌ: Sounds magical? However, in the real world, where most enterprises juggle 57 tools that barely speak the same language, it remains primarily a vision for now.โฃ
๐๐๐๐ฅ ๐ฆ๐๐ซ๐ค๐๐ญ๐ข๐ง๐ ๐ฎ๐ฌ๐ ๐๐๐ฌ๐. So, expanding on the previous example. The partner gets the sales promotion email but doesnโt act. Prompting the Marketing Automation Agent to trigger the Customer Success AI Agent, which then actually makes a sales call to follow up and remind the partner about the limited-period promo. You can add more agents to the mix, each performing different tasks, to ultimately make the sale. โฃ
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๐ก ๐๐จ๐ญ๐ญ๐จ๐ฆ ๐ฅ๐ข๐ง๐:โฃ
Weโre moving toward Agentic AI, but we're still building the trust, interoperability, and shared language needed to make it a reality.
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