What is the difference between an AI assistant and an AI agent?
An assistant answers when you ask. An agent decides what to do next and takes actions on its own — sending emails, updating records, running tools.
Answer curated and reviewed byMark Barclay
Key takeaways
- An assistant answers when you ask.
- An agent decides what to do next and takes actions on its own.
- sending emails, updating records, running tools.
The line is autonomy. An AI assistant is conversational: you ask, it answers. Nothing happens without you pressing send.
An AI agent has goals and tools. Given "keep my inbox at zero," an agent can read messages, draft replies, mark things as done and only surface the ones that need you.
Agents are more powerful and more risky. Start with assistants; graduate specific workflows to agents once the assistant version is boringly reliable.