Agents & Tools

Chat-only AI talks. An agent acts.

The shift comes from three pieces working together:

• a planner — the model breaks a goal into smaller steps
• tools — functions the model can call to read or change the world (function calling, often via MCP)
• a loop — the model checks the result and decides what to do next

1. Plan: "To answer this, I need today's weather and your calendar."
2. Act: call the weather tool, call the calendar tool.
3. Observe: "Rain at 3pm; you are free at 5pm."
4. Decide: "Suggest the 5pm slot, ask for confirmation."

Common everyday agents you can already use:

• email triage (label, summarize, draft replies — you send)
• calendar assistant (suggest slots — you confirm)
• research helper (fetch, summarize, cite — you decide)

A good rule of thumb: an agent should never do a thing you would not let an unfamiliar coworker do on your behalf.