AI Agents vs Chatbots: How They Differ in Practice

Vendors often use the terms chatbot and agent interchangeably, which can make purchasing decisions confusing. A chatbot primarily handles conversation, answering questions and routing requests, but typically cannot change anything in a business system on its own. An AI agent is goal-oriented: it plans multi-step tasks, uses connected tools such as booking systems and CRMs, and keeps track of progress across steps. Both can rely on the same underlying language models, so the key distinction is how much responsibility and autonomy is handed over. The article notes that chatbots suit information-heavy needs, while agents add value along with greater risk because they take actions.