AI Agent

An AI agent is a piece of software built on top of a language model that can do work, not just produce text. It receives a goal, picks a plan, calls the tools it needs (search, CRM, email, calendar, business systems), observes the result, and decides what to do next. The same agent can field a customer support ticket end to end, run a discovery call, or triage a sales lead based on intent signals.

The most common patterns in production today are SDR agents (handle inbound and outbound prospecting), support agents (deflect tier-1 tickets, escalate the rest), and research agents (compile briefings on accounts, competitors, or topics). Under the hood they typically combine a reasoning LLM, a retrieval layer for company knowledge, and a tool-calling layer that bridges to systems of record.

The honest current state: well-planned agents handle 60–80% of routine tasks autonomously and reliably. Anything outside the trained plan — judgment calls, policy exceptions, anything irreversible — should still flow to a human. The win is not replacing reps; it is removing the repetitive 70% so people focus on the work that actually moves revenue.