Skip to main content

What is an Agent?

An agent refers to an intelligent program or system that possesses autonomous perception, understanding, reasoning, and execution capabilities. It can autonomously formulate plans, invoke tools, and execute tasks based on user-provided goals, and even dynamically adjust its behavior during the task process according to feedback, ultimately achieving goals efficiently.

Unlike traditional software programs that rely on manual step-by-step operations, agents can “think and act” on behalf of users, thereby realizing a complete task closed loop of “instruction-driven → autonomous decision-making → automatic execution.”

Core Features of Agents​

  • Goal-Oriented: Clearly defines task objectives and formulates strategies to achieve them based on user instructions or context.
  • Autonomous Behavior: Possesses a certain degree of proactivity and autonomy, capable of independently executing complex tasks without step-by-step guidance.
  • Environmental Perception and Feedback: Able to obtain information from external systems, data sources, or user input, and dynamically adjust execution paths accordingly.
  • Tool Invocation Capability: Can flexibly invoke external resources such as search engines, databases, APIs, and automation tools to perform required operations for tasks.
  • Continuous Learning and Optimization: Some advanced agents possess the ability to continuously learn and optimize, improving their performance over long-term use.

Analogy Examples​

  • You can think of traditional software as a “toolbox,” where each function requires you to manually click and operate;
  • Whereas an agent is more like a “skilled Agent”—you only need to tell it “what you need to accomplish,” and it can decide which tools to use, in what order, and how to handle unexpected situations, ultimately achieving the goal.

Application Scenarios​

Intelligent Agents are widely used across multiple business domains. Below are typical scenarios:

1. Enterprise Office Automation​

  • Automatically generate daily reports, weekly reports, meeting minutes, emails, etc.
  • Automatic schedule management and meeting coordination
  • Automatic data analysis and generation of charts and summary reports

Example: The sales manager automatically receives a daily report email containing sales charts and anomaly alerts.

2. Customer Service and Technical Support​

  • Intelligent customer service automatically responds to common user questions
  • Intelligent ticket classification and distribution, automatic handling of routine issues
  • Detects user sentiment and automatically escalates abnormal events

Example: When a customer expresses dissatisfaction, the Agent automatically detects it and raises the handling priority.

3. Marketing and Sales Growth​

  • Automatically generate promotional copy, social media content, and marketing emails
  • Customer profiling analysis and formulation of personalized recommendation strategies
  • Sales data forecasting and follow-up reminders

Example: One-click generation of promotional copy for a specific customer group and publishing to multiple platforms.

4. Technology R&D and Operations Support​

  • Automatically generate code or provide optimization suggestions
  • Convert R&D logs into standardized technical documentation
  • Automatically execute API testing or script deployment tasks

Example: Based on input description, the agent generates a Python function and test cases.

5. Financial Services and Risk Management​

  • Automatically generate compliance or audit reports
  • Risk sentiment monitoring and abnormal event identification
  • Automated customer risk assessment and credit scoring

Example: After a customer applies for a loan, the system automatically generates a risk analysis report for approval reference.

6. Education and Personalized Learning​

  • Develop personalized learning plans for learners
  • Automatically grade assignments and provide feedback suggestions
  • Automatic generation and updating of teacher course content

Example: After uploading student assignments, the system quickly completes grading and outputs feedback on incorrect answers.