Artificial Intelligence has brought the term "AI Agent" into almost every technology conversation. As a result, many people now use the words agent and automation interchangeably. While both are designed to reduce manual work and improve efficiency, they solve problems in fundamentally different ways.
Understanding this distinction is essential if you're building software, automating business processes, or deciding where AI fits into your organization.
What Is Automation?
Automation is designed to execute predefined instructions.
You tell the system exactly what to do, in what order, and under what conditions. Every time those conditions are met, it performs the same sequence of actions.
