AI · 1h ago
LLMs are not AI agents — here's what actually makes an agent
An LLM alone is just a token predictor, not an AI agent. A true agent includes state, retrieval, tools, permissions, retries, and observability around the model. Developers should treat the LLM as a decision engine, not the entire application.
Meridian48 take
This distinction is crucial as companies rush to ship 'AI agents' — many are just chatbots with a prompt.
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An LLM is not an AI agent. An LLM predicts useful next tokens. An agent is the system around it: state, retrieval, tools, permissions, retries, and observability. Treat the model as a decision engine—not your whole application. →
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