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- Agents Rising [Part I]
Agents Rising [Part I]
What are AI agents and how do they work?
Kyser Thompson
January 31, 2025
Hello friends,
Happy Friday and welcome to another edition of AI for the Rest of Us!
If you’ve been paying any attention to the news lately (or your social feeds), you’ve probably noticed everyone from Google to POTUS is talking about AI agents. Why? Because apparently 2025 is the year that AI evolves from communicating with you, to doing stuff for you. We’re talking about booking your flights, ordering your groceries, and finding those sneakers you’ve wanted (and making sure you get the best deal). It’s the year of agents rising.
This week, we’re starting a two-part series on these AI agents, and we’re doing it for three main reasons: (1) they’re mostly dominating the conversation right now, (2) they represent the next big shift in how AI will affect our daily lives, and (3) most importantly, they’re already here.
This week in Part I we’ll dig into what they are, how they work, and why the rest of us should care about them. For Part II in two weeks, we’ll talk about what to expect in the short and long term and explore the implications on culture and society. Buckle up because this topic might blow your mind a bit.
Here we go...
– Kyser
In the Know
Let’s start like we did in Edition #2 What is AI, anyway? with my most basic, no-duh definition of an AI agent and break it down:
An AI agent is a technology that can complete tasks based on the instructions someone gives it.
It is technology. It’s a software system that’s built on top of the AI tools we’ve been talking about – the large language models, planning systems, and computer programs. It doesn’t have true autonomy (more on that later) or genuine decision-making abilities like humans do.
Can complete tasks. Yes, an AI agent is an autonomous system that perceives its environment and acts to achieve goals. But actual independent action is incredibly complex. It requires understanding context, making rule-based judgment calls, and determining when human input is needed.
Based on instructions. While agents look like they’re working independently, they’re really just following instructions and executing tasks based on predefined logic and something called adaptive algorithms. These patterns can be sophisticated, giving agents the chance to adjust responses dynamically rather than rigidly following fixed rules. We can think of them more as a digital proxy rather than a truly independent actor. All that said, there are very smart people who fear the independent actor part – but that’s a whole other conversation we’ll tackle in Part II.
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Let’s Learn Something
AI in the Wild
It’s Play Time
Newcomers [AI is new to me]
Explorers [I’m comfortable with AI]
And that wraps up Part I of our two-part series on AI Agents.
As always, please let me know what you thought and if you have suggestions on how we can improve AI for the Rest of Us. I’m always listening.
Until next time (and on Instagram between then)...
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