AI Agent
An AI agent is a single autonomous unit of agentic software: a program that takes a goal, works out how to reach it, and acts through tools without step-by-step human instructions. Agents are the building blocks that GaaS platforms sell as working labor.
An agent pairs a reasoning model with a set of tools and a memory of what it has already tried. Give it an objective, such as resolve this support ticket or reconcile this invoice, and it plans the steps, takes them, and reports back. When several agents coordinate on a larger job, you get a multi-agent system.
The distinction that matters commercially is simple: a chatbot produces text, an agent produces completed work. That is why agents can be priced by result, and why they sit at the center of the post-SaaS shift.
Related terms: Agentic AI, Agent Orchestration
See also: What is GaaS? · GaaS vs SaaS