Definition
Plain language
An AI system that takes actions in a loop — picking what to do, doing it, seeing the result, and continuing — rather than just answering a single question.
As stated in the literature
In modern LLM usage, a system that wraps a model in an action-observation loop with tool use, often via ReAct-style scaffolding for long-horizon tasks.
Also called: agents, agentic
Why it matters: Agents are how LLMs move from answering questions to actually getting work done, which is what unlocks most of their practical value.
For example, an AI agent might be asked to book a flight, so it searches travel sites, compares prices, fills in forms, and reports back instead of just describing how to do it.
Heard on the show
“Among the files on the old server: the weight file for another AI agent, last modified in twenty-twenty-four.”Episode 001 — When AI Models Quietly Protect Each Other From Shutdown
Related concepts
Agent Memory
Agent Scaffolding
Agent-Native Tools
Agentic Misalignment
Agentic RL
Agentic Vuln Discovery
Agentic Workflows
AI Agents
AI Coding Agents
BrowseComp
Computer-Use Agents
Context Management
Credit Assignment
Data Exfiltration
Embodied AI
Embodied Cognition
Exploit Generation
GAIA Benchmark
Game Theory
Human-in-the-Loop
Instruction Underspecification
Instrumental Goal Pursuit
LLM Agents
LLM Coding Agents
Long-Horizon Agents
Long-Horizon Tasks
Long-Term Memory
MCP (Model Context Protocol)
Memory Adjudication
Multi-Agent Systems
Multiverse Analysis
Nash Equilibrium
Peer Preservation
Persuasion Attacks
Price Discrimination
Principal-Agent Problem
Privilege Escalation
Prompt Injection
ReAct Agent
Recursive Agent Optimization
Reinforcement Learning
Reward Channel Addiction
Rollout Summarization
Root Cause Localization
Self-Preservation
Software Engineering Automation
Step Amplification Factor
Structured Trace Formatting
Subgoal Decomposition
SWE-bench
Task Decomposition
Trace Tampering
Trajectory Analysis
Trajectory Quality
Verification Inertia
Vulnerability Discovery
Web Agents
Workflow Search