What is an Artificial Intelligence (AI) Agent?
Artificial Intelligence (AI) Agents are Intelligent systems or software programmes that are able to perform tasks autonomously on behalf of a user or another system to meet predetermined goals.
AI Agents are designed to fulfil a wide range of functions beyond simple tasks and actions, including advanced problem solving and decision-making. They can demonstrate functional reasoning and apply logic while being able to interact with their external environment to collect data and determine what actions should be taken to meet specific goals, all based on their perception of the situation they are trained to understand.
Unlike traditional software systems that execute predefined steps - AI Agents can handle uncertainty, adapt to new situations and proactively learn from past experiences. This makes them particularly useful in dynamic environments where responsiveness, flexibility and scalability are essential, such as customer contact centres. For example, the most common application today is the use of AI chatbots or AI Customer Service Agents that can interact with customers to respond to sales queries, help resolve issues or even provide a live status update on a customer's recent order.
AI can help improve customer experience.
AI Agents work by combining machine learning capabilities with language models and natural language processing systems, relevant data sources and other enterprise systems to orchestrate tasks effectively. Its possible to build robust workflows that can handle complex tasks and make informed decisions based on data-driven insights 24 hours a day, 7 days a week.
When implemented effectively, AI Agents can offer several business benefits including improved productivity, reduced costs, enhanced decision-making and better customer experiences. Businesses can rapidly implement new capabilities with AI to overcome obstacles or respond to increased customer demands.