What, exactly, is an 'AI Agent'? Here's a litmus test

Summary

What is an ”AI agent”? Confusion abounds.There is also some consensus: agents must of course be AI-driven systems. They should have some degree of autonomy, and they should be able to use tools in addition to understanding and reasoning.But why isn't, say, ChatGPT an agent? According to most definitions out there, it actually is. Yet most (including OpenAI themselves) don’t describe it that way. In general, we seem to have a sense of “we’ll know it when we see it” with AI agents.To guide our building efforts at Tines, we wanted a more precise definition. So we came up with our own objective criteria – a litmus test – for agents. It boils down to identity.Learning from the law Agency is a longstanding concept in common law, where principals give authority to agents to act on their behalf. For example, a company could appoint a real estate broker to find an office. Or an individual could hire a travel agent to organize a vacation.What happens when such an agent breaks the law? Are they, or the principal, to blame?Principals can be held accountable (e.g. if they instruct the agent to do something illegal), but the agent makes its own decisions, too. So an agent may be the one prosecuted, when acting under their own identity. In law, agents can act as their principal, but also independently as themselves.Audit logs contain identity In enterprise software systems, we have a clear definition of identity: the actor who is named in the audit log, for any action taken.Our litmus test for AI agents: Does the AI system perform actions under its own identity?If it does, it’s an agent, and the audit logs will name the agent itself. And if it doesn’t – like most copilots or in-product assistants – it’s not.Other properties of agents are revealed by passing this test. Identity implies autonomy, because the AI must use tools and perform actions independently. Identity requires capability and reasoning, because the AI must be capable of making good decisions to be entitled to bear s...