AI Agent
An autonomous AI system that can perceive its environment, make decisions, and take actions to achieve specific goals. Agents can use tools, interact with APIs, and coordinate with other agents.
Related terms
- Agentic AI
AI systems that can act autonomously to accomplish goals, make decisions, and take actions with minimal human intervention. These agents can plan, reason, use tools, and adapt their approach based on feedback.
- Tool Use
The capability of AI models to invoke external tools, APIs, and systems to accomplish tasks. Modern implementations rely on structured outputs (JSON schemas or function signatures) so the model's tool calls can be parsed and executed reliably. Extends AI beyond text generation into real-world actions.
Also referenced: Autonomous Systems.
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Next steps
- Take the assessment— See where you stand
Call this framework and its tools from your own agent via the Model Context Protocol (MCP) server. Works with Claude Desktop, Cursor, Zed, Continue, and the OpenAI Agents SDK.
Where this fits
AI Agent is part of the Agentic AI vocabulary used in the Generative AI Maturity Framework. See the full glossary for the complete set of 149 defined terms, or take the free maturity assessment to see where your organisation stands.