Lately it feels like every AI tool with a few buttons and integrations is being called an agent. Sometimes it is actually doing multi-step work, but other times it just feels like a chatbot with access to a tool or two. I don’t think that is always bad. Even a simple tool-using assistant can be useful. But the word “agent” is starting to feel stretched. An AI that drafts an email, an AI that browses a website, an AI that fills a form, and an AI that can keep track of a task over time are all being put in the same bucket. For me, the useful difference is whether the system can actually carry a task forward. Not just respond once, but remember the goal, use the right tools, notice when something changed, and stop when it needs human approval. The hype makes it hard to tell what is real progress and what is just a normal AI wrapper with better marketing.
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