What is anAI agent?
An AI agent works through a task over several steps and reaches for the tools it needs.
Get in touch
Let's talk about your project.
First we check whether the project fits your business model. Then you get a proposal with phases and effort.
Talk about AI agents or call: +49 151 1576 5566An AI agent is a software system that uses a language model to pursue a given goal, planning steps on its own, using tools and feeding the result of each step into the next. A chatbot answers your question and then waits. The agent keeps going until the job is done or a person needs to take over.
- According to Bitkom, 11 percent of companies that use or plan to use AI already deploy AI agents (as of September 2026).
- Bots follow rules, assistants recommend, agents decide within the limits you set.
- Most trouble comes from permissions that are too broad and from manipulated inputs.
What an AI agent is made of and what that lets it do
A large language model does the understanding and planning, but it needs a goal with a recognisable end, such as sorting this week's open requests by urgency, or it never knows when it is finished. Tools (a search, a calendar, your inventory system) turn a conversation partner into something that acts, and after each step the agent gets feedback that tells it how far it has come.
When model and tools follow a fixed sequence instead, that is a workflow. Plenty of products sold as agents are exactly that, which for clearly defined tasks is often the more reliable choice anyway.
How to tell an AI agent from a chatbot or an AI assistant
It comes down to how independently a system may work. Bots mostly follow rules, an AI assistant recommends and leaves the decision with you, and an agent decides within its limits what comes next.
How to deploy an AI agent without it hurting you
Things go wrong where an agent may do more than its task requires. OWASP advises keeping permissions to the minimum and having a person approve consequential actions. Hidden instructions in websites or files the agent reads are the second risk, and Germany's Federal Office for Information Security treats them as a weakness built into such systems by design.
Scalable AI agents depend less on the model than on clean data and integration. Our AI agent system runs on your server, is not tied to a single AI provider, and nothing leaves your business without a person approving it.
Frequently asked questions
Can I build an AI agent myself?
A simple one, yes. Running it reliably is the hard part, because that takes clean data, a connection to your systems, tight permissions and tests with real cases.
May an AI agent talk to customers without disclosure?
No, unless it is obvious to them that they are dealing with AI. Since 2 August 2026, Article 50 of the EU AI Act requires that people are told.
Where to go deeper
What Is an AI Agent, and How Is It Different From a Chatbot?
AI Agents for Business: Our AI Agent System
Terms you should know in the same context
Agentic AI · Computer use · AI assistant · Voicebot (AI voice agent) · AI disclosure obligation (Article 50) · Back to the AI glossary A to Z
Which task would you hand to an agent if you could define exactly what it may never do without your approval?