AI agents are intelligent software entities capable of carrying out tasks independently for a user or another system. It leverages reasoning, strategic planning, environmental awareness, and autonomous decision-making to accomplish its objectives.
Key characteristics include:
- It operates with defined goals, either assigned by people or by other systems, and takes actions to achieve them.
- It perceives and engages with its surroundings, whether physical or digital.
- It makes independent choices about what actions to take, rather than relying on rigid, preprogrammed instructions.
- In more advanced designs, it can adapt and improve its behavior over time by learning from experience.
What are AI agents?
An AI agent is a system (software or embodied) that can perceive its environment, reason about what it perceives, and take actions to achieve goals autonomously or semi-autonomously.
What’s the difference between an AI agent and a chatbot?
A chatbot is a conversational tool that responds to user messages based on a pre-designed conversation flow, while an AI agent is an autonomous system that can reason, plan, and take actions to achieve goals. In short, chatbots talk, while AI agents think and act.
Feature
Chatbot
AI agent
Core purpose
Designed mainly for conversation. It answers questions, provides information, or guides users.
Designed to take action. It completes tasks, makes informed decisions, and works toward achieving its goals.
How it works
Uses predefined scripts or language models to respond to user inputs.
Uses reasoning, planning, and memory to decide what to do next and execute it.
Dependence on human input
Needs clear user instructions for every step.
Can infer intent and fill in missing details automatically.
Autonomy level
Low - waits for user prompts and can’t act on its own.
High - can plan steps, use tools, and act without constant user direction.
Memory & Learning
Limited or session-based memory; doesn’t usually learn from past interactions.
Has long-term memory and can learn, adapt, and improve over time.
Complexity
Handles single-turn or short conversations.
Manages multi-step, goal-oriented workflows.
Examples of tasks
Answer FAQs, provide support, small talk, and product recommendations.
Book appointments, generate reports, analyze data, automate workflows.
Initiative
Always reactive — responds when spoken to.
Proactive — can initiate actions or follow up on set goals.
Best used for
Customer support and marketing campaigns.
Automation, digital assistants, business process management.
Feature
Chatbot
AI agent
Core purpose
Designed mainly for conversation. It answers questions, provides information, or guides users.
Designed to take action. It completes tasks, makes informed decisions, and works toward achieving its goals.
How it works
Uses predefined scripts or language models to respond to user inputs.
Uses reasoning, planning, and memory to decide what to do next and execute it.
Dependence on human input
Needs clear user instructions for every step.
Can infer intent and fill in missing details automatically.
Autonomy level
Low - waits for user prompts and can’t act on its own.
High - can plan steps, use tools, and act without constant user direction.
Memory & Learning
Limited or session-based memory; doesn’t usually learn from past interactions.
Has long-term memory and can learn, adapt, and improve over time.
Complexity
Handles single-turn or short conversations.
Manages multi-step, goal-oriented workflows.
Examples of tasks
Answer FAQs, provide support, small talk, and product recommendations.
Book appointments, generate reports, analyze data, automate workflows.
Initiative
Always reactive — responds when spoken to.
Proactive — can initiate actions or follow up on set goals.
Best used for
Customer support and marketing campaigns.
Automation, digital assistants, business process management.
How do AI agents work?
AI agents work by taking input from their environment, understanding it using internal memory or knowledge, deciding the best action using rules or machine learning, and then executing that action to achieve a goal. It can also learn from experience, improving its decisions over time.
What types of AI agents exist?
Various types of digital AI agents exist, differing primarily in the scope of their functionality and their applications. Let’s look at a few below 👇
Why AI agents matter to businesses?
AI agents help businesses by handling precise, goal-oriented tasks on their own. Here are a few examples:
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Customer support: AI agents can handle thousands of inquiries simultaneously, providing instant human-like answers and freeing your human resources for complex issues.
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Sales and marketing: AI agents can instantly suggest products, learning from past customer behaviour, leading to increased conversion rates.
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Operations: Process automation bots manage invoices, inventory, or scheduling, reducing errors and labor costs.
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Data-driven decisions: AI agents can analyze large datasets to detect trends, forecast demand, and optimize pricing in real-time.
By doing these tasks efficiently and continuously, AI agents help businesses save money, increase productivity, and improve customer satisfaction.
Key benefits of using AI agents
Here are the key benefits for businesses using AI agents:
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Cost reduction: Automate repetitive tasks and reduce labor expenses.
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Increased efficiency: Perform tasks more accurately than humans.
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24/7 availability: Operate continuously without breaks or downtime.
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Enhanced customer experience: Provide instant, personalized support and recommendations.
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Improved decision-making: Analyze large datasets to identify trends and optimize strategies.
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Scalability: Handle growing workloads without proportionally increasing staff.
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Error reduction: Minimize human mistakes in routine processes.
Benefits of using AI agents.
How are companies using AI agents today?
Today, companies are using AI agents to enhance customer experiences across various areas of business. Let’s take a closer look:
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Customer support automation: AI agents handle routine inquiries so your human staff can focus on complex issues.
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Document and workflow processing: AI agents can autonomously extract information from documents, automate approvals, and manage other such repetitive tasks.
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Marketing and personalization: Analyze user behavior, generate content, and deliver personalized recommendations.
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Financial management: Automate invoicing, detect fraud, and provide predictive analytics for investments.
How AI agents boost lead conversion?
AI agents help businesses convert leads faster by delivering instant, personalized interactions and timely follow-ups. Here’s how:
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Deploying AI agents for real‑time lead engagement can raise conversion rates by up to 67%.
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Instant responses from AI agents — within a minute of lead contact — make leads 391% more likely to convert compared with much slower follow‑up.
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Using AI agents to score and qualify leads improves lead‑to‑deal conversion by 51% while significantly reducing the cost per converted lead.
Why do businesses wanting to use AI agents need CRM support
Businesses adopting AI agents require a robust CRM to connect their automation with accurate customer data and workflows. This is where Kommo distinguishes itself, offering a no-code platform to create and tailor AI agents to meet business needs.
With Kommo, you can design AI agents that handle sales inquiries and manage customer communication in about 20 minutes without writing a single line of code. It’s the simplest and most effective way to bring intelligent automation into your existing processes.
Kommo CRM AI agent
The Kommo AI agent is built directly into the CRM, handling tasks like lead qualification, meeting scheduling, and data enrichment automatically. By managing these routine processes, Kommo AI agent optimizes the sales workflow and allows teams to dedicate more time to meaningful customer interactions.
How does the AI agent work in Kommo?
With Kommo, you build a custom AI agent by defining its knowledge and role. The process involves:
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Train on your data: Feed the AI agent your company's unique information, such as URLs, PDFs, docs, or writing texts directly into the source.
Easily upload sources in Kommo to train your AI agent.
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Define its purpose: Program your AI agent using clear “when/then” commands. For example, you can instruct it: “When a visitor comes from a specific ad campaign, then offer them a discount and collect their contact information.
Set When > Do conditions for your AI agent.
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Shape its personality: Instruct your AI agent on its specific function, providing detailed guidelines to mould its personality and behavior.
Shape your AI agent’s personality as specifically as you want.
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Deploy: Place your trained AI agent anywhere—on your website, in messengers, or within your CRM—to automate interactions.
To sum up
In conclusion, AI agents are revolutionising business operations with intelligent, autonomous task handling. With tools like Kommo CRM, companies can easily build and deploy AI agents to boost efficiency, engagement, and conversions, marking a major step towards an AI agent-powered world of business.
Kommo AI agent: Your 24/7 lead conversion machine
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