While building AI agents I noticed something that really surprised me.
When I started out, I thought that using a model would make a huge difference in reducing mistakes and wrong tool usage... That wasn't the case. What actually made the biggest difference was giving the agent information from the start.
Some things that helped were:
- Clearly defining what the agent's job is and what its supposed to do.
- Specifying where the agent works and what rules it has to follow.
- Stating what actions, the agent can take and what tools it has.
- Limiting the tools. Only giving the agent relevant information.
Once I had those things in place the agent seemed better at understanding what I wanted it to do. It was less likely to think I was asking it to do something or choose the wrong tool.
I'm curious if other people building AI agents have seen the thing. Have you found that giving the agent information and guidance makes a bigger difference than just using a bigger model? Or did switching to a model make a bigger difference for you?
I'm especially interested, in hearing from people who are already using AI agents in real-world situations or have workflows set up.
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