Automation has traditionally meant record and replay. That built an entire industry, and a maintenance treadmill to go with it. RPA, robotic process automation, is software bots that mimic human clicks and keystrokes to run repetitive tasks. Record the steps once, replay them forever. It works, right up until the screen changes. Mobile AI agents offer a different deal: describe the outcome you want, and let the system figure out the steps. So which one is better for you?
How RPA works, and why its not ideal
RPA is how teams used to automate tasks since computers became widespread inside offices. The idea was to identify repeat workflows which always followed the exact same path, show the software the steps once where it captures the exact buttons and fields you touched, and then it repeats them. Tools like UiPath, Automation Anywhere, and Blue Prism built the category, and on mobile you'll see the same idea in things like Tasker or Appium.
Under the hood, it's hardcoded. The bot remembers precise targets, this button at this spot, that field with that name, and follows a fixed path someone drew in advance. At runtime it isn't really thinking, instead string searching for elements and hoping its still where thy were expected? If yes, it proceeds. If no (which it often does), it breaks and throws errors.
