AI Agents & Tool Use

AI · Advanced

Definition

An AI agent is an LLM that plans, calls tools (search, code, APIs) and loops until a goal is done.

Moves AI from answering questions to completing tasks.

Diagram

Flowchart

Example: Toy agent loop

tools = {'add': lambda a, b: a + b}
steps = [('add', 2, 3), ('add', 5, 10)]
result = None
for name, a, b in steps:
    result = tools[name](a, b)
print(result)

Output: 15

Key points

ReAct = reason + act
Limit steps and validate tool inputs

Interview questions

Agent vs chatbot?

A chatbot replies; an agent takes actions with tools toward a goal.