Autonomous Agent — AI Glossary

An autonomous agent is an AI system that can independently plan, decide, and execute multi-step tasks to achieve a goal with minimal human oversight. Unlike a chatbot that responds to one message at a time, an autonomous agent breaks down complex objectives, uses tools and APIs, monitors its own progress, and adjusts its strategy based on intermediate results. These systems combine the reasoning abilities of large language models with the capacity to take actions in the real world.