AI Agents vs. Autonomous Agents

Artificial intelligence is advancing rapidly, and a Bauer College researcher says it’s time to adapt with the technology or get left behind.

C. T. Bauer College of Business Associate Professor Johannes Habel, who is a sought-after expert in AI teaching and research, has recently led several panels and discussions on the topic. Notably this spring, Habel moderated a C-suite level roundtable for The Millenium Alliance that focused on understanding the difference between AI assistants and autonomous agents.

“An AI assistant is a piece of software that someone uses on demand to complete a task,” Habel said. “Typically, this kind of software gets the task done a little bit faster or a little bit smarter. An example would be asking ChatGPT to write an email on demand.”

He added: “In contrast, an AI agent would be something that operates autonomously. You could embed it in the process, and it would take over at certain points in time, complete tasks, and hand them back to the human employee.”

While AI assistants have been around for decades, the development of agents is relatively new. Bauer College is setting the pace for the emerging technology in the classroom, with Habel incorporating it in the Digital Sales class and assigning students to develop and analyze their own agents.

“Until a year and a half ago, whenever we used the term AI, we typically meant assistants,” Habel said. “Now the true productivity gains are going to come with AI agents. It’s the newer kind of AI that's going to transform businesses tremendously.”

In discussions with corporate leaders, Habel said various companies are employing different strategies with agentic AI.

“Everyone is really excited about the topic, so they’re all experimenting and doing different things,” he said. “Typically, at roundtables, companies compare experiences and learn from each other.”

As AI continues to get smarter, Habel said the technology is capable of handling some junior-level job responsibilities. For entry level employees or graduates looking to enter the job market, he said now’s the time to adapt.

“AI assistants and agents are not good at handling complex tasks or multistep processes,” he said. “In the future, younger employees will no longer be working on simple tasks.”